Writer Loses Battle To Have Age Pulled From Web

A screenwriter and movie director from Germany tried to have her age removed from Wikipedia - then took legal action when it refused.

Dr Evelyn Schels filed the lawsuit in May, arguing that her "data protection rights" had been infringed.

She added that by having her age published online, she could be disadvantaged in her career.

Now a court in Munich has ruled against her - pointing out that her date of birth is published in one of her own books.

The court said: "It had to be clear to the claimant from the start that this book, and the public knowledge of her birth day along with it, would not remain limited to a small circle of people interested in films, but be accessible to various libraries etc to a circle of unlimited users."

In a statement Wikimedia, the organisation behind the site, said: "Publicly available sources are critical for the existence of Wikipedia.

"Those who publish information and make it available to the general public should expect a large number of people to be able to find it online, including on Wikipedia, some day."

Dr Schels was described by the court as a "renowned producer of documentaries" who was published one almost annually since 1987. Wikipedia lists her year of birth as 1955.

In 2011 an anonymous actress targeted the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) saying she was losing work because it published her real age.

She lost a battle with the Amazon-owned site in 2013, and her identity was revealed as Huong Hoang, 42 at the time.

In court papers she had said: "In the entertainment industry, youth is king."