MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Google altered its Google Glass developer policies to exclude sexually explicit material without public announcement on Saturday, truncating expectations for a new porn platform on Glassware.
The redacted policy reads, “We don't allow Glassware content that contains nudity, graphic sex acts or sexually explicit material.”
The news broke after MiKandi, a leading mobile adult app developer, released its first app Tits & Glass this morning.
According to MiKandi Co-Founder Jen McEwen, the company had no idea that Google had changed their policy until a reporter contacted them today and asked them what they thought about it.
She said MiKandi never received any notification from Google, although they have been publicly discussing the impending release of their application since they received their pair of Glass two weeks ago. MiKandi went forward with app development only after going through Google's terms are policies with “a fine-toothed comb and magnifying glass,” McEwen said.
“I would imagine that they just had to know, that when they developed this device, that that’s exactly what is would be used for,” McEwen told XBIZ, “Either someone dropped the ball on their legal team or they just recently changed their minds.”
While MiKandi’s Tits & Glass app is still technically live, it is effectively dead because the app reached its API limit only an hour after launching and Google will not increase it.
MiKandi is currently updating their application to comply with Google’s new policy and will relaunch tomorrow.
“We always said from the beginning that we wanted to play within Google’s boundaries and that we wanted to be respectful and use the device in a responsible way," McEwen said. "We intend to follow up with that promise.”
Because Glass is still a fledgling device, and MiKandi is the only company to publicly announce a Glass-compatible adult app, it is hard to tell exactly how certain grey areas concerning explicit material will be handled. The glasses automatically download every single photo taken with them to a private Google+ folder that could potentially be searched by Glass moderators.
‘I think it’s pretty clear, at least as of today, that Google doesn’t want porn companies using the glass to share content,” McEwen said. “But what I find interesting is, just users, just an average Joe who decides to use his Google Glass to take a picture of his penis or send a picture of his partner — is that going to be in violation of Google’s policies?”
