Privacy - IMDb (original) (raw)

IMDb Privacy Notice

Last Updated, March 27, 2024. To see prior version, click here.

We know that you care how information about you is used and shared, and we appreciate your trust that we will do so carefully and sensibly. This Privacy Notice describes how IMDb, IMDbPro, and Box Office Mojo (collectively "IMDb") collect and process your personal information through IMDb websites, services, and applications that reference this Privacy Notice (together the "IMDb Services"). By using the IMDb Services, you are consenting to the practices described in this Privacy Notice.

What Personal Information About Users Does IMDb Collect?

We collect your personal information in order to provide and continually improve our services and your experience at IMDb.

Here are the types of personal information we collect:

• Information You Give Us: We receive and store any information you provide in relation to IMDb Services. You can choose not to provide certain information, but then you might not be able to take advantage of many of our IMDb Services. See examples of what provided information we collect.
• Automatic Information: We automatically collect and store certain types of information about your use of IMDb Services, including information about your interaction with content and services available through IMDb Services. Like many websites, we use "cookies" and other unique identifiers, and we obtain certain types of information when your web browser or device accesses IMDb Services and other content served by or on behalf of IMDb on other websites. See examples of what information we automatically collect and store.
• Information from Other Sources: We might receive information about you from other sources, such as your name and email address when you sign in to IMDb using a third-party login service. See additional examples of the information we receive from other sources.

For What Purposes Does IMDb Use Your Personal Information?

We use your personal information to operate, provide, develop, and improve the products and services that we offer our customers. These purposes include:

• Provide, troubleshoot, and improve IMDb Services. We use your personal information to provide the IMDb Services, process payments, enhance functionality, analyze performance, fix errors, and improve the usability and effectiveness of the IMDb Services.
• Recommendations and personalization. We use your personal information to recommend features, content, products, and services that might be of interest to you, identify your preferences, and personalize your experience with IMDb Services.
• Comply with legal obligations. In certain cases, we collect and use your personal information to comply with laws.
• Communicate with you. We use your personal information to communicate with you in relation to IMDb Services via different channels (e.g., e-mail or on-site forums).
• Advertising. We use your personal information to display interest-based ads for features, products, and services that might be of interest to you. We do not use information that personally identifies you to display interest-based ads. To learn more, please see What About Advertising?.
• Fraud Prevention. We use personal information to prevent and detect fraud and abuse in order to protect the security of our customers, IMDb, and others.

What About Cookies and Other Identifiers?

We use cookies, pixels, and other technologies (collectively "cookies") to recognize your browser or device, learn more about your interests, and provide you with essential features and services and for additional purposes, including:

• Recognizing you when you sign-in to our services. This allows us to provide you with content recommendations, display personalized content, and provide other customized features and services.
• Keeping track of your specified preferences. This allows us to honor your preferences, such as whether or not you would like to see interest-based ads. You may set your preferences for interest-based ads here and other preferences in your user account settings.
• Conducting research and diagnostics to improve IMDb's content and services.
• Preventing fraudulent activity.
• Improving security.
• Delivering content, including ads.
• Reporting. This allows us to measure and analyze the performance of our services.

IMDb's cookies allow you to take advantage of some of IMDb's essential features. For instance, if you block or otherwise reject our cookies, you will not be able to contribute content, review films, add items to your Watchlist, or use any IMDb Services that require you to sign in.

Approved third parties may also set cookies when you interact with IMDb Services. Third parties include providers of measurement and analytics services, social media networks, ad networks, ad serving companies, and advertising companies. Third parties use cookies in the process of delivering content, including ads relevant to your interests, to measure the effectiveness of their ads, and to perform services on behalf of IMDb. They may automatically receive an IP address when this happens.

You can manage browser cookies through your browser settings. The 'Help' feature on most browsers will tell you how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie, how to block cookies, and when cookies will expire. If you block all cookies on your browser, neither we nor third parties will transfer cookies to your browser. If you do this, however, you may have to manually adjust some preferences every time you visit a site and some features and services may not work.

Does IMDb Share Your Personal Information?

Information about our users is an important part of our business, and we are not in the business of selling our users' personal information to others. We share user information with our parent corporation (Amazon.com, Inc.), the subsidiaries it controls that follow practices at least as protective as those described in this Privacy Notice, and as described below.

• Transactions involving Third Parties: We make available to you services provided by third parties. For example, you can purchase movie tickets from third parties through Showtimes & Tickets. You can tell when a third party is involved in your transactions, and we share users' personal information related to those transactions with that third party.
• Third-Party Service Providers: We employ other companies and individuals to perform functions on our behalf. Examples include processing payments, removing repetitive information from user lists, analyzing data, providing marketing assistance, and transmitting content. They have access to personal information needed to perform their functions, but may not use it for other purposes.
• Business Transfers: As we continue to develop our business, we might sell or buy other businesses or services. In such transactions, user information generally is one of the transferred business assets but remains subject to the promises made in any pre-existing Privacy Notice (unless, of course, the user consents otherwise). Also, in the unlikely event that IMDb.com, Inc. or substantially all of its assets are acquired, user information will of course be one of the transferred assets.
• Protection of IMDb and Others: We release account and other personal information when we believe release is appropriate to comply with the law; enforce or apply our Conditions of Use and other agreements; or protect the rights, property, or safety of IMDb, our users, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for fraud protection and credit risk reduction.

Other than as set out above, you will receive notice when personal information about you might be shared with third parties, and you will have an opportunity to choose not to share the information.

What About Advertising?

• Third-Party Advertising and Links to Other Websites: IMDb Services may include third-party advertising and links to other websites and apps. Third-party advertising partners may collect information about you when you interact with their content, advertising, and services. For more information about third-party advertising at IMDb, including interest-based ads, please read the Amazon Interest-Based Ads policy. To adjust your advertising preferences, please go to the Your Ads Privacy Choices page.

Use of Third-Party Advertising Services: We provide ad-serving companies, ad networks and advertising companies with information that allows them to serve you with more useful and relevant ads and to measure their effectiveness. We never share your name or other information that directly identifies you when we do this. Instead, we use an advertising identifier like a cookie or other device identifier. For example, we may share a cookie or advertising identifier together with a request to deliver an advertisement with an ad network to enable you to receive more relevant ads. As an additional example, if you have already downloaded one of our apps, we will share your advertising identifier and data about that event so that you will not be served an ad to download the app again. Some ad companies also use this information to serve you relevant ads from other advertisers. You can learn more about how to opt-out of personalized advertising (such as cross-context behavioral advertising) by going to the Your Ads Privacy Choices page.

How Secure Is Information About Me?

We design our systems with your security and privacy in mind.

• We work to protect the security of your personal information during transmission by using encryption protocols and software.
• We maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards in connection with collection, storage, and disclosure of personal customer information. Our security procedures mean that we may occasionally request proof of identity before we disclose personal information to you.
• It is important for you to protect against unauthorized access to your password and to your computers, devices, and applications. We recommend using a unique password for your IMDb account that is not used for other online accounts. Be sure to sign off when finished using a shared computer.

What Information Can I Access?

You can access your information, including your name, address, payment options and profile information in your account settings. Click here for a list of examples that you can access.

What Choices Do I Have?

If you have any questions as to how we collect and use your personal information, please contact our Customer Service. Many of our IMDb Services also include settings that provide you with options as to how your information is being used.

• As described above, you can choose not to provide certain information, but then you might not be able to take advantage of many of the IMDb Services.
• You can add or update certain information on pages such as those referenced in What Information Can I Access? When you update information, we usually keep a copy of the prior version for our records.
• If you do not want to receive e-mail or other communications from us, please log in to your account and adjust your preferences in your user account settings. If you do not want to receive in-app notifications from us, please adjust your notification settings in the app or device.
• You may adjust your personalized advertising preferences by visiting Your Ads Privacy Choices .
• The Help feature on most browsers and devices will tell you how to prevent your browser or device from accepting new cookies or other identifiers, how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie, or how to block cookies altogether. Because cookies allow you to take advantage of some essential features of IMDb Services, we recommend that you leave them turned on.
• Most devices provide users with the ability to change device permissions (e.g., disable/access location services). For most devices, these controls are located in the device's setting menu. If you have questions about how to change your device permissions on devices manufactured by third parties, we recommend you contact your mobile service carrier or your device manufacturer.
• If you want to browse our websites without linking the browsing history to your account, you may do so by logging out of your account and blocking cookies on your browser.
  In addition, to the extent required by applicable law, you may have the right to request access to or delete your personal information. If you wish to do any of these things, please contact the IMDb Help Center. Depending on your data choices, certain services may be limited or unavailable.

Are Children Allowed to Use IMDb Services?

IMDb Services are not intended for use by children under the age of 13. If you are under 13 you may not sign up for IMDb Services or submit information about yourself to IMDb.

Additional State-Specific Privacy Disclosures

Click here to read additional state-specific privacy disclosures as required under applicable laws.

For Customers in Europe and the UK:

IMDb.com, Inc., at 410 N. Terry Ave., Seattle, WA 98109 is the data controller of personal information collected and processed through IMDb Services.

EU General Data Protection Regulation and UK Data Protection Laws

Legal Bases

The EU GDPR and UK data protection laws require a legal basis for our use of personal information. Our basis varies depending on the specific purpose for which we use personal information. We use:

• Performance of a contract when we provide you with services, or communicate with you about them. This includes when we use your personal information to deliver services, and process payments.
• Our legitimate business interests and the interests of our customers when we improve IMDb Services, when we publish and display credit and other factual biographical information on IMDb Services, for certain advertising services, and when we detect and prevent fraud and abuse in order to protect the security of our customers, ourselves, or others.
• Your consent when we ask for your consent to process your personal information for a specific purpose that we communicate to you. When you consent to our processing your personal information for a specified purpose, you may withdraw your consent at any time and we will stop processing of your data for that purpose.
• Compliance with a legal obligation when we use your personal information to comply with laws.
• These and other legal bases depending on the purpose for which we use personal information.

How Long Do We Keep Your Personal Information?

We keep your personal information to enable your continued use of IMDb Services, for as long as it is required in order to fulfill the relevant purposes described in this Privacy Notice, as may be required by law such as for tax and accounting purposes, or as otherwise communicated to you.

What rights do I have?

If you have any questions or objection as to how we collect and process your personal information, please contact our Customer Service. Many of our IMDb Services also include settings that provide you with options as to how your information is being used.

In addition to the choices outlined above:

• You can view more information about the cookies we use on our site in our Cookies notice.
• When you consent to our processing your personal information for a specified purpose, you may withdraw your consent at any time and we will stop any further processing of your data for that purpose.
• Subject to applicable law, you have the right to request access to, correct, and delete your personal data, and to ask for data portability. You may also object to our processing of your personal data or ask that we restrict the processing of your personal data in certain instances. If you wish to do any of these things, please contact Customer Service or, to submit a data subject access request, go to the IMDb Help Center. Please be advised that IMDb is legally required or entitled to retain some information, such as your content contribution history. We do this in line with applicable laws, including for tax, accounting, and fraud prevention purposes.

Contacts, Notices & Revisions.

Our EU representative is Amazon Europe Core S.a.r.l., located 38 avenue John F. Kennedy L-1855 Luxembourg

If you have any concern about privacy at IMDb or want to contact us, please reach out to Customer Service with a thorough description and we will try to resolve the issue for you. Further, the data protection officer for Amazon Europe Core SARL, can be contacted at eu-privacy@amazon.co.uk. If you are of the opinion that the processing of your personal data constitutes a violation of data privacy laws; you can file a complaint with our principal supervisory authority, Commission Nationale pour la Protection des Données in Luxembourg, the Information Commissioner's Office, or with another local authority.

Our business changes constantly and our Privacy Notice will change also. You should check our website frequently to see recent changes. Unless stated otherwise, our current Privacy Notice applies to all information that we have about you and your account. We stand behind the promises we make, however, and will never materially change our policies and practices to make them less protective of customer information collected in the past without the consent of affected customers.

Conditions of Use, Notices, and Revisions

If you choose to use IMDb Services, your use and any dispute over privacy is subject to this Notice and our Conditions of Use, including limitations on damages, resolution of disputes, and application of the law of the state of Washington.

If you have any concern about privacy at IMDb, please send us a thorough description to our customer service team, and we will try to resolve it.

Our business changes constantly, and our Privacy Notice will change also. You should check our websites frequently to see recent changes. Unless stated otherwise, our current Privacy Notice applies to all information that we have about you and your account. We stand behind the promises we make, however, and will never materially change our policies and practices to make them less protective of customer information collected in the past without the consent of affected customers.

Examples of Information Collected

Information You Give Us When You Use IMDb Services

You provide information to us when you:

• search for information on IMDb Services;
• subscribe to IMDb Services;
• stream, view, or use content on a device or through a service or application on a device;
• provide information in your user account (and you might have more than one if you have used more than one e-mail address when using IMDb Services) or on your IMDbPro name page;
• upload professional contacts to your IMDbPro name page;
• configure your settings on, provide data access permissions for, or interact with IMDb Services;
• submit content contributions (e.g., plot summaries and movie reviews);
• communicate with us by email or the IMDb Help Center;
• complete a questionnaire or a promotional entry form;
• vote in a poll;
• upload or stream images or videos;
• upload or respond to casting notices on IMDbPro;
• use our services such as Showtimes & Tickets;
• compile Watchlists or Lists;
• track pages on IMDbPro; or
• employ our notification services.

As a result of those actions, you might supply us with such information as:

• identifying information such as your name, e-mail address, physical address, and phone number;
• payment information;
• your age;
• your gender;
• your location information;
• your IP address;
• your acting experience and unique acting skills;
• your educational background and professional training;
• your physical attributes;
• your general movie preferences;
• the movies and actors you like or dislike;
• people, addresses and phone numbers of professional contacts on your IMDbPro name page;
• content of reviews, posts to on-site forums, and e-mails to us;
• personal description and photographs you submit about yourself;
• images and videos uploaded to IMDb Services; and
• information and documents regarding identity (e.g., driver's license numbers).

Automatic Information

Examples of the information we collect and analyze include:

• the internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the internet;
• login, e-mail address, and password;
• the location of your device or computer;
• content interaction information, such as content streams, and playback details, and network details for streaming quality, including information about your internet service provider;
• device metrics such as when a device is in use, application usage, connectivity data, and any errors or event failures;
• IMDb Service metrics (e.g., the occurrences of technical errors, your interactions with service features and content, your settings preferences, location of your device running an application, information about uploaded images and files such as the file name of your images);
• version and time zone settings;
• purchase and content use history;
• the full Uniform Resource Locator (URL) clickstream to, through, and from our websites, including date and time; content you viewed or searched for; and
• page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, and page interaction information (such as scrolling, clicks, and mouse-overs).

We may also use device identifiers, cookies, and other technologies on devices, applications, and our web pages to collect browsing, usage, or other technical information.

Information from Other Sources

Examples of information we receive from other sources include:

• filmography such as film and TV credits;
• biographical information;
• images and videos uploaded to IMDb Services;
• reviews; and
• press interviews and media articles.

Information You Can Access

Examples of information you can access through IMDb Services include:

• past payments;
• subscription status;
• personally identifiable information (including name, e-mail, and password);
• payment methods;
• e-mail notification settings;
• your services and related settings, and communications and personalized advertising preferences;
• content that you recently viewed;
• your content contributions (e.g., plot summaries and movie reviews);
• profile information associated with your IMDb accounts (including your reviews, ratings, and Watchlists);
• information associated with your IMDbPro name page (including acting experience, physical attributes, educational background, and professional training); and
• images uploaded to IMDb Services.