Texas sues GamesRadar

The State of Texas has just filed a lawsuit against Future US, the operator of GamesRadar, in regard to the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act.

The lawsuit alleges that GamesRadar includes content which is inappropriate for children but that that content is obviously aimed at children and has information about games which are "clearly targeted at young children" according to Gi.biz. The State of Texas reckons that since the operators of the site know that a large part of the demographic is under the age of 13 then it must be "well aware that children under the age of 13 routinely register on its Web site."

The State of Texas points out that this puts GamesRadar in violation of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Form because it doesn't obtain any parental consent. Neither does the site label its privacy policies clearly, place the information in a prominent location or disclose what information it collects about users or how this information is used.

The lawsuit is part of an effort to involve the federal court so that GamesRadar can be punished and so that unspecified "damages, restitution, or other compensation on behalf of residents of the state."

Future US has refused to issue an official comment at the moment and has not clarified why it has not complied with the act, which went into enforcement in 2000.

How do you feel about the lawsuit - is it an legitimate complaint or are the Texans just wanting to line their pockets with some ill-gotten gains? Let us know what you think in the forums.