The Texas-based actress suing IMDB and its parent company Amazon for publishing her true age on their website is now moving forward and the federal judge presiding over the case has set a trial date for January 07, 2013.

Hoang’s lawsuit asserts causes of action for breach of contract, fraud, and violation of Washington’s Privacy and Consumer Protection Act. Now that the Ms. Hoang has revealed her identity, the case can move forward on substantive issues. One of the main issues of contention in this case will likely be how IMDB got Ms. Hoang’s birthdate and whether the company’s privacy policies will shield it from liability for disclosing Ms. Hoang’s birthdate on the IMDB website.

In her complaint, Ms. Hoang asserts that IMDB used private information, which included her birthdate, associated with the credit card she used when signing up for IMDB’s Professional Version. IMDB and its parent company Amazon have responded with a motion to dismiss claiming that Ms. Hoang’s is merely speculating and has no facts to support her assertion.

Amazon claims that it had the right to use, and ultimately disclose, Ms. Hoang’s birthdate because she consented to the IMDB website’s privacy policy. In its privacy policy, IMDB specifically discloses that it will use information users provide for “improving” its website. IMDB’s privacy policy also provides examples of the types of data it collections which includes “your name, e-mail address, physical address, zip code, and phone number; your age and gender; the movies and actors you like or dislike; and your general movie preferences.”

It is apparent that the IMDB website privacy policy is a boilerplate policy likely used by many other social media companies. However, both Ms. Hoang and IMDB’s parent company Amazon will likely find themselves ultimately arguing over how expansive this privacy policy really is and whether it is meant to include, and in fact does include, personal and private information such as a user’s birthdate.