Future US has responded to charges filed against it by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, who claims the company’s GamesRadar website violates the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.
Shacknews reported the charges yesterday, saying the lawsuit filed against Future US claims the site “unlawfully collect[s] personal information such as names, ages and home addresses from children [under 13],” which violates the federal statute. “Federal law provides important protections to prevent children from divulging sensitive personal information and to shield them from inappropriate sexual or violent content online,” Abbott said. “The Office of the Attorney General will continue aggressively enforcing laws to protect young internet users.” Presumably as a result of the charges, free RadarNation account registrations have been temporarily closed.
Today, according to GamesIndustry.biz, Future US responded to the allegations by releasing a statement saying it is looking into the matter. “This is the first contact we have had from the Texas attorney general on this matter and we are urgently reviewing the complaint,” it said. “As a matter of course and at a minimum, Future US strictly adheres to all laws and guidelines regarding content on our websites. In fact, we were a founding member of the Advertising Review Council (ARC) in 2000 whose primary directive was to ensure that mature-rated games weren’t marketed to minors. We will provide a more detailed response to the specific elements of this case in due course.”
Future US is owned by England-based Future Publishing, which puts out over 150 magazines in the U.S., U.K. and France, including Edge, PC Gamer and and Official Nintendo, PlayStation and Xbox magazines.
