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Amazon sued for posting actress's birthday

October 17, 2011 @ 7:51 pm (Updated: 7:01 am - 10/18/11 )

Sometimes a woman doesn't like the world knowing her age, especially when she's an actress concerned about losing jobs to younger women in Hollywood.

An actress is suing Amazon.com for revealing her age on one of their websites and refusing to remove the reference when asked.

Amazon owns the Internet movie database IMDb. An actress, only known as "Jane Doe" from Texas in the court documents filed in Seattle, is suing IMDb's parent company for more than $1 million for revealing her real age.

In the complaint filed last week, the actress claims "credit-card interception is the only way the company could have learned her real age." The actress says that Amazon’s conduct amounts to fraud and breach of contract, in violation of Washington laws. She believes they swiped her personal information after she used her credit card to purchase a professional subscription to IMDb which she thought would give her an advantage in auditioning for jobs.

The woman also believes she's lost income and jobs because of IMDb's posting of her age. Her attorney says 40-year-old actresses are not in demand in the movie business.

Neither Amazon nor IMDb have comment on the claims. This isn't the first time the companies have dealt with this kind of complaint. Los Angeles actress Eriko Tamuro, who was once a Britney Spears-like teen idol in Tokyo, settled a lawsuit with IMDb in 2007 after the site posted her real name and birth date.

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Comments (6)


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  • anotherfencewalker wrote...
    No mystery..
    October 18, 2011 7:40 am
    Maybe this "actress" lost income and jobs because she was no good at what she thought was her career and future. A true and talented person in show business (any medium) is deserving of any job because they can prove that their talent at any age is timeless.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Stevebo wrote...
    She may have a case
    October 18, 2011 9:36 am
    IF... it can be proved that her credit card information was improperly used.

    Aside from that, the sad thing is that they will likely settle and she'll likely get a cash settlement because of her claim.

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  • Burn_Notice wrote...
    If she is lying about her Age...
    October 18, 2011 9:40 am
    .. When you do that to buy alcohol it is a crime. This is a shakedown pure and simple. Once she is actually named, because her real identity will be become public knowledge. I am sure that will really enhance her ability to get roles knowing she likes to take people to court over material facts of truth.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Snout wrote...
    Maybe it IS Britney Spears???
    October 18, 2011 9:55 am
    She hasn't aged well at all.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Dark Jedi wrote...
    It's not age that loses acting jobs
    October 18, 2011 10:57 am
    It's talent! There are many older actresses still getting acting jobs. Ok, so you're not going to be in the next American Pie straight to DVD movie. But it doesn't take too much talent to get into those movies.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • CH wrote...
    if your hot " whats age(love) got to do with it"
    October 19, 2011 4:25 am
    just ask tina turner! love comes with age http://youtu.be/YqWkFF-TbMU put some lip stick on "Jane Doe" pailin would say.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }