Product boundaries
What we do not build, and why.
This category is full of products that ship features which are already unlawful in the European Union, or that no study supports. The list below was written before the first line of code. Each item has a test that fails if the line is crossed, which means removing the limit means removing the test, and that is visible in the history.
- 01
No automated rejection
Not as an API route, not as a default value, not as a recommendation pre-filled in the interface. The system produces findings, a person produces decisions, and the decision is logged.
Evidence
Article 22 of the GDPR. The lesson of SyRI in the Netherlands and Robodebt in Australia, where automated systems produced decisions nobody could explain afterwards.
- 02
No score, no risk level, no probability
There is no score column, no risk variable, and no probability anywhere in the product, including in internal data. A finding asserts a checkable fact with a source.
Evidence
A probability cannot be shown to a candidate who asks why, defended to a regulator, or audited. A fact with a source can be all three.
- 03
No emotion, stress or deception detection
Not in interviews, not in recordings, not as an add on.
Evidence
Prohibited under Article 5(1)(f) of the AI Act in the employment context.
- 04
No AI text detection
Candora never infers that a CV or a cover letter was written by a model, and writing style is never a signal.
Evidence
61% false positive rate on writers whose first language is not English. It systematically punishes the wrong candidates.
- 05
No professional network scraping
Only data the candidate or the recruiter provides, plus public registries and APIs whose terms permit the use.
Evidence
There is no defensible legal basis for scraping a professional network to inform a hiring decision in the European Union.
- 06
No voice or live interview analysis
Out of scope permanently. We do not build it, we do not propose it and we do not write about it as a roadmap item.
Evidence
Decided as a permanent product boundary in July 2026.
- 07
No biometric template
The test is binary. The moment a template exists, or a comparison is made against an enrolled reference, the processing falls under Article 9 of the GDPR.
Evidence
For candidates there is no usable exemption. Consent fails on the imbalance between the parties, and Article 9(2)(g) requires a specific law that does not exist for private recruitment. The Spanish regulator confirmed this in June 2025, including that the AI Act provides no legal cover and that templates deleted within seconds are not a defence.
- 08
No software on the candidate's device
No reading of processes, windows, clipboard or screen. Nothing to install, ever.
Evidence
The French regulator has fined continuous webcam monitoring and screenshotting. In Germany, works council codetermination under section 87(1)(6) BetrVG attaches to the mere capability to monitor, regardless of intent. A second device defeats the whole approach in any case.
- 09
No gaze, behaviour or keystroke dynamics
None of it is read, stored or used as a signal.
Evidence
No construct validity study supports it. One proctoring tool flagged none of six instructed cheaters. Another flagged candidates with darker skin five times more often at zero difference in actual cheating.
- 10
No pre-crime prediction and no risk profiles
Candora never marks a candidate as risky in advance. It describes inconsistencies found in the past, and nothing else.
Evidence
The network layer is built so that it can never become this: typed links, profiles never merged, and a confirmed link only through human confirmation enforced by a database constraint.
- 11
No enrichment from third party data brokers
Candora does not buy or pull candidate data from enrichment vendors.
Evidence
Article 14 of the GDPR requires proactively telling the person what was collected and from where. The French regulator fined a lead enrichment vendor 240,000 euro partly for exactly this. A legitimate interest argument that survives for business email does not survive for an employment decision.
- 12
No special categories under Article 9
Health, religion, political opinions, union membership, sexuality and the rest are never extracted, stored or displayed, even when the CV contains them. No checks relating to minors.
Evidence
Article 9 of the GDPR. Enforced by a test against a CV fixture that contains such data.
If any of this changes, it will be visible.
Each limit above is covered by a test that fails when the limit is crossed. Removing a limit means removing its test, and that shows up in the history of the code. That is the strongest promise we can make that does not depend on trusting us.