Google Steps Away From Facial Recognition in Glass

By Paul Thomson :: 12:49 PM

Acknowledging the concerns of privacy advocates and nervous legislators, Google announced yesterday that it would not be approving any facial recognition technology for use in its Glass product at this time.

“Many have expressed both interest and concern around the possibilities of facial recognition in Glass, as Google has said for several years, we won’t add facial recognition features to our products without having strong privacy protections in place,” the Google Glass team said in a post on Google+.  “We won’t be approving any facial recognition Glassware at this time”

Google has been testing its new Google Glass product for several months now, and has allowed a select group of early adopters, called Glass Explorers, to buy a pair for $1,500.

While Google has now publicly said that facial recognition technologies are off the table for the immediate future, they did leave open the possibility of eventually adopting such features, once privacy concerns have been addressed.