IMO, the empathy softwarre isn't that unbalanced, as it does require a much more powerful commlink then a face would normally have if you want to get a higher rating soft.
As for the emotitoy, there aren't actually any rules in the game that allow the owner of one to get the benefits of the empathy software for them self.
That kinda like claiming that you can get +4 to all your combat rolls, just because you own a drone that happens to be a member of a rating 4 tac-net.