Among the names you'll find some familiar names if you are attuned to the MLM "controversy"
- Robert Fitzpatrick of pyramidschemealert.org, long-time opponent of MLM model, believes all MLMs are effectively pyramid schemes. I agree with him 90%.
- Dr. Jon M. Taylor, who cooperated with Fitzpatrick on many of the papers, but also has his own anti-MLM website
- David Brear, another long-time vocal opponent of MLM, who also believes that all MLMs are pyramid schemes, albeit disguised. He and I have butted heads despite we agree 90% of the time. His blog is at mlmtheamericannightmare.blogspot.com (I may have misspelled that)
- Shyam Sundar, David Brear's counterpart in India, runs corporatefraudswatch.blogspot.com and covers mainly Indian scams, but also reposts Brear's blogposts
- Doug Brooks, who had started multiple class-action lawsuits against multiple MLM companies
Some notable anti-scam bloggers are there:
- Jason Jones, aka Salty Droid, whose stance on scams and pyramid schemes are well known and he considers MLMs in the same arena. He can be found at saltydroid.info
- Omri Shabat, of glancingweb. Omri had been writing superbly sarcastic and caustic blog posts about various Internet marketers and small time scammers, the type that was covered in The Verge's "Scamworld" series, for years
However, this time they are joined by a few other experts, who wishes to discuss OTHER aspects that are problematic, with MLM, such as:
- Rick Ross, the cult expert
- Steven Hassan, the cult expert
- Steve Barrett, of QuackWatch and MLMWatch. He's against woo-meds / woo-supplements and general quackery.
- Lyndell Edgington, of Eagle Research, educating law on cybercrime
- Sucheta Dalal, of MoneyLife India, financial blogger/expert
- Bruce Craig, former assistant attorney general of Wisconsin
- Kristine Lanning, former assistant attorney general of North Carolina
- Stacie Bosley, assistant professor of economics
But even more surprising are even MORE bloggers on the list:
- Amthrax
- YPRPariah
- UsanaWatchdog
- Lyoness Info Center
There are many others whose name I don't recognize as I don't actually make it my job to know all about who speaks up against MLM. However, I have no doubt they have expertise in their own fields and brings valuable knowledge to the field.
I can see that there's one Asian name on the list, and I assure you, I'm NOT that guy. I'm not on the list, though nobody exactly call me and asked me to join. Of course, now that I heard about it, I may ask to put myself on the list. :)
Or not. There's still time.
Hi, you forgot me, I founded the International Coalition of Consumer Advocates, the group that released the petition. In fairness I haven't been at this as long as many of the other big names like Jon Taylor and Robert Fitzpatrick. Doug Brooks wrote the petition. You are most welcome to join us.
ReplyDeleteI will add a sign petition option at www.mlmpetition.com today.
Jonathan Brand
Didn't mean to slight you as I'm basically listing the people I recognize. :D
ReplyDeleteNo I understand :) So I've added a way to sign the petition on the blog at mlmpetition.com. You just include name, zip and country in your reply post. We encourage everyone to tell a little about themselves and add anything they might want to do to help. We love and welcome all ideas.
ReplyDeleteI'd really love it if you guys would participate in the blogs at the petition site :) We made quit a stir in the news. (see the in the news section) we're first if you Google MLM Petition. Cheers.
ReplyDelete