What We Won't Measure
Ether measures how people feel. That's a powerful thing to know about someone, and power like that comes with responsibility. This page is our line in the sand.
Why This Page Exists
Emotion intelligence helps brands understand whether an experience actually moved people. Used well, it makes marketing more honest: less guessing, less over-claiming, more respect for the audience.
Used badly, the same technology becomes a tool for manipulation. We'd rather grow slower than let that happen on our platform. So we've written down who we won't work with and what we won't let Ether be used for. It's all public, so you can hold us to it.
Some of these decisions will cost us revenue. Some may upset people. We're okay with both.
The People We Measure Always Come First
Before we get to who we won't work with, here's the standard that applies to every activation, every brand, every time:
Everyone Knows, in Plain Language
People participating in an Ether-measured experience are told what we're doing in plain, human words, not buried in fine print. What's being captured, what it's used for, and who sees it. If a participant would be surprised to learn what happened to their data, we've failed.
Consent Is Real, Not Assumed
Participation is a choice. Emotion and biometric data is only collected with explicit consent, and that consent can be withdrawn at any time.
Privacy-Safe by Default
Data is stored securely, kept no longer than needed, never sold to unrelated third parties, and shared only with the brand partners named on the campaign a person actually took part in. Anyone can see, correct, or delete their data at intoether.co/my-data. The full details live in our Privacy Policy.
Our Customers Are Held to the Same Bar
Brands and agencies using Ether agree to these standards too. Hiding measurement from the audience, or using the data in ways participants weren't told about, is a line. Crossing it ends the engagement.
Industries We Won't Serve
1. Weapons Manufacturers
We won't help companies that profit from products designed to harm people market those products more effectively.
2. Hate Groups
Any organization that promotes hostility or violence toward people based on race, religion, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or national origin. No exceptions, no case-by-case here.
3. Tobacco & Vaping
If measuring emotional response would help these products reach more people or deepen usage, we're out.
4. Predatory Finance & MLMs
Payday-style lenders, multi-level marketing schemes, and any business model that depends on exploiting people's financial desperation or hope.
Applications We Won't Allow
These apply to every customer, in any industry. Emotion data is sensitive by nature, and there are uses of it we won't enable, full stop.
Political Persuasion
Ether may not be used by political campaigns or advocacy operations to test, tune, or target emotional messaging designed to persuade, polarize, or alienate voters.
Exploiting Vulnerable People
Using emotional insights to identify and target people when they're anxious, grieving, addicted, in financial distress, or otherwise vulnerable, including minors, is prohibited.
Employee Surveillance
Ether measures audiences, not workers. Our platform may not be used to monitor, evaluate, discipline, or terminate individual employees based on their emotional responses.
Lie Detection
Emotion measurement is not lie detection, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something. We will never market Ether as a truth-verification tool, and we won't work with anyone who wants to use it as one.
Judgment Calls
Not every bad actor fits neatly into a category. Some companies operate in perfectly acceptable industries but conduct themselves, through their leadership, labor practices, or track record, in ways that conflict with our values.
We reserve the right to decline or end any engagement on that basis, at our sole discretion. We don't owe anyone our platform, and we'd rather explain a lost deal than a compromised principle.
How We Enforce This
Every situation gets evaluated individually. When something lands in a gray area, we talk about it as a team and make a call. If an existing customer's use of Ether crosses one of these lines, we'll end the engagement.
If you're not sure whether your use case is okay, just ask. We're happy to talk it through, and if we're not the right fit, we'll tell you straight and point you somewhere else where we can.
Talk to Us
Questions about this policy, or about whether your use case fits?
step@intoether.co
Last Updated: August 2026