EPIC, Coalition Urge Zoom to Abandon Emotion Recognition

May 13, 2022

EPIC and a coalition led by Fight For the Future called on videoconferencing company Zoom to halt plans to develop and incorporate emotion tracking software into its platform. The software claims to be able to identify the emotions an individual is experiencing based on their face and voice. The coalition argued that emotion recognition is harmful because it is based in pseudoscience, subject to racial biases, can be used to manipulate or punish individuals, and presents serious data security risks.

EPIC previously helped persuade Zoom to make enhanced encryption features available to all users of the platform. EPIC also filed a detailed complaint and urged the FTC to investigate Zoom, citing numerous privacy and security flaws with the Zoom platform and warning that the company has “exposed users to the risk of remote surveillance, unwanted video calls, and denial-of-service attacks.”

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