Porno Apps Coming to Google Glass?

Everyone knows that porn was  — and still is — the real killer Web app. So it’s no surprise that various companies are already preparing to port their XXX-rate wares to Google Glass. One of them, an Android app called MiKandi, says it could have content for Glass ready as soon as this week.

A blog on the company’s Web site says: “We just picked up a pair of Google Glass! We’re thrilled to be one of the first (if not the only) porn store to start creating apps and content with Google Glass. With close to 8,000 adult apps in the market today, we’ve seen the future of adult entertainment and it’s awesome.”

Awesome? I’m not so sure. The prospect of wearable porn ratchets up the already high creepy factor of Google Glass. It’s unsettling enough to have people running around with computers on their face, taking pictures and streaming them straight to the Web without so much as a “do you mind?”  But knowing that the guy sitting opposite you on the streetcar is watching lurid videos is seriously weird.

The powers that be at MiKandi are, well, drooling over the prospect of making what they call “POV” (point of view) porno videos using Google Glass. Talk about up close and personal.

The potential of Google Glass to compromise what’s left of our privacy in public spaces got the attention of the so-called privacy caucus of Congress. Eight members of the group sent a letter to Google CEO Larry Page asking tough questions about the Internet giant’s wearable computing device.

They noted that Google has a history of collecting data it shouldn’t be collecting, such as the unencrypted Wi-Fi signals scooped up by Street View cars a few years ago, and asked what Google is doing to prevent Google Glass from collecting personal data without permission. The lawmakers asked Page to reply by June 14. We’ll see about that. Google is pretty good about disclosing government requests for information about users, but it sometimes needs a pretty hard shove before it will provide answers about its alleged privacy violations.

Speaking about the Congressional letter, John M. Simpson, director of Consumer Watchdog’s Privacy Project, said:  “It shows that there are real concerns about the privacy implications of Google Glass.” Google has demonstrated repeatedly it is a serial privacy violator, Simpson said, “which is why it is very important Congress members are shining a light on this.”

[Update: Shortly after this was published, Google changed its terms of service to forbid the distriibution of Glass apps that feature sexually explicit content. Mikandi’s app, which was briefly availalbe to users, no longer works.]