Today in a google plus post, Google said that it does not intend on approving any apps with facial recognition features — though it hasn’t closed the door the possibility in the future. In the post, Google said “many have expressed both interest and concern around the possibilities of facial
recognition in Glass. … We won’t add facial recognition features to our products without having strong privacy protections in place.” Google also stressed that this is not an especially new policy, and indeed two weeks ago Steve Lee, director of product management for Google Glass, made a statement along similar lines:
“We’ve consistently said that we won’t add new face recognition features to our services unless we have strong privacy protections in place.”
The difference now is that Google is specifically referring to third party apps in the new post. Google has already listed out some restrictions on apps for Glass and though it has encouraged hacking, the company is becoming more responsive to privacy concerns. According to All Things D, Google will also not allow apps to turn off the display when taking a photo, so as to give people on the other end a better chance to know that a photo has been taken. Google has also added in the same policies it uses for Android apps when it comes to “hate speech, gambling and explicit material,” according to All Things D.
