tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46786788734089660842024-03-13T13:46:49.428-07:00Birth Scam ReportBirth Scam Reporthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10005090736007076409noreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4678678873408966084.post-6729314549934942572013-02-02T13:35:00.002-08:002013-02-02T13:35:55.378-08:00Please Share Your Brio Birth Experience!At the top of this page, you will find a new tab called "Brio Birth Testimonials". Please comment on that page to share the story of your personal experience with Brio Birth. Only factual comments sharing personal experiences will be permitted on that page. Any other comments will be deleted, though you are welcome to post them on other blog posts as appropriate. Thank you for sharing your stories! Hopefully they will give good information to those considering involvement with Brio Birth.Birth Scam Reporthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10005090736007076409noreply@blogger.com84tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4678678873408966084.post-25963182998278993722013-01-29T06:00:00.000-08:002013-01-29T06:00:01.671-08:00A "Foreign Scammer" E-mail for Birth ProfessionalsI'm sure everybody has received one of those foreign scammer e-mails at least once... Hi, I'm a Nigerian prince, I want to buy something that costs $250, I'll send you a check for $2500 and you send me the change! and so on. Apparently, there is now one of these e-mails targeting the birth community. Below is the text of an e-mail that has apparently been received by birth professionals in several states:<br />
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<br />
<i>Greetings from France!</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>My name is Craig Dennis a Graduate of the prestigious Atlanta School of Massage in the United States, I worked with many celebrities and developed an international reputation for fantastic massage with an impeccable sense of service, I now live and work as a massage therapist here in France, I have over 19 years experience and have given more than 20,000 massages as a professional bodyworker. I do deep relaxation massage in which the muscles relax without pain. I also do energy massage that helps people feel great when I am done. I am also certified to do pregnancy massage.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>I have lots of happy clients here in France.I have been looking for a Childbirth Educator for over a week now till i met an old friend yesterday that referred you to me, so i decided to contact you to know if you will be able give my client some private childbirth Classes, My client's name is Aly Corte, A model here in France who is 4 month pregnant and will be needing some Childbirth Classes when she arrives the States,as this is her first time being pregnant. She will be coming to the U.S in 2 weeks time for a modeling job and will be residing in your Area temporarily until the necessary arrangement for her job has been made before she leaves.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>She will be needing 2 hour class per day, 2 classes per week for 6 weeks. Ms Corte, asked me to come with her to America but i told her i would not be able to go with her as i have a course i will be going for in a week time,and also because i do not know much about childbirth Classes, so i promised to help her get a good Doula in your Area since i use to live in the states before i relocated here.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Pls tell me a little more about your self, how long have you been a Doula? Would you be able to provide her with the Private Classes from the 4th of FEB to the 13th of MARCH, 2 Classes per week for 6 weeks. I need you to get back to me with the amount you charge per class and also let me know if she can pay you with a Certified check drawn from a US bank?</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>You can view some of Ms Corte Pictures from the link below:</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>http://www.modelmayhem.com/portfolio/2729864/viewall#/30609578</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Till I read from you remain blessed.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Craig Dennis</i><br />
<i>Telephone</i><br />
<i>544 4816 from France</i><br />
<i>1544 4816 outside France</i><br />
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Hopefully it is obvious to anyone that this e-mail is full of inaccuracies and inconsistencies, and is more than likely a scam, but as we all know, we are a very compassionate, helpful community of professionals who accord a great deal of benefit of doubt. Please be on the lookout for this or similar e-mails.<br />
Birth Scam Reporthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10005090736007076409noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4678678873408966084.post-50293166094637770472013-01-28T04:00:00.000-08:002013-01-28T04:00:01.341-08:00Full Circle: International Training of MysteryWe have been very focused on Brio Birth, a particularly pernicious scam in the birth community. However, the name of this blog is Birth Scam Report, and as such we wish to protect the birth community from any and all scams. <br />
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One such concern raised has been a placental encapsulation training from Full Circle Encapsulation. This training, based on information received, has taken place at various locations in the United States and Australia. There has apparently been pretty universal dissatisfaction with both the content and the conduct of the trainings. A letter from Australia reads:<br />
<br />
<br />
<i>It is with considerable regret that we in Australia are contacting birth workers throughout our beautiful global community, but at this stage we feel we have no other option than to share our experience with other hard working, well intentioned women.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Like many of you, we are very committed to women and their families and as Midwives, Doulas and Childbirth Educators, we are always looking to expand our education to further support women during their perinatal period. It was with some excitement that we organised and welcomed Amanda Johnson, of Full Circle Encapsulation in America, into our Community and our homes, as many of us are increasingly getting requests about placenta encapsulation. The plan was for her to visit 3 of our states. She delivered her training to New South Whales and Victoria, but cancelled the Werstern Australia training the day before it was scheduled to start, due to low numbers. This was extremely disappointing to say the least, particularly regarding the short notice as all participants had made special arrangements around personal and work responsibilities in order to attend this training.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>The hosts involved in NSW and Vic were very generous in their hospitality with Amanda, and in organising the courses. A financial remuneration had been agreed upon, as part of a signed contract, prior to the training.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Amanda returned to America after the NSW and VIC trainings, and the WA women waited for their refunds (some $3000 in total), and waited and waited. Emails were sent, requesting, begging and demanding refunds, but no replies were received in return. Eventually, a single email was received by one of the disappointed attendees to say that Amanda had had a financial situation and was unable to refund at this time. Obviously this was completely unacceptable to us and at this stage, the other hosts became involved and an almost daily communication from them and ourselves FINALLY led to most of us being reimbursed. At this stage, there is still money outstanding and certainly no form of an apology has been issued.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Unfortunately, during this time, it became evident that Amanda had also not paid the hosts. Money was owed for venue, food, materials and a small percentage for organising the training. The hosts in NSW and VIC have tried communicating with Amanda but her sporadic replies are consistently vague and sketchy.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>We gave her many weeks ( months now) to reply to our emails, but over time it became obvious that the unthinkable had happened, and that we have all in fact been misled.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>We are still waiting for the hosts to be refunded, but were really torn as to whether we should warn other women about this organisation. We are a compassionate, caring community of women who work very hard and respectfully with women, and the very last thing we would want to do it to cause stress to another woman ( we all have families and understand life can throw some challenges)</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>However, it has just come to our attention that Amanda has again taken payment for another course, in America this time and then cancelled the day before training. So, we no longer feel hesitant in potentially damaging Amanda’s reputation by sharing this information. We just want to warn women, Midwives, Doulas and Childbirth Educators out there, that there are more reputable places to train. It is with heavy hearts that we share this experience with the birthing community, but we feel that it is our duty to inform our fellow birth workers so that they can avoid similar issues. We have tried everything to work with Amanda, given her every chance to come good on her promises but she has let us all down time and time again.</i><br />
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Another report from a training in the United States reads:<br />
<br />
<i>The training itself was disappointing... It was a year ago, so I hope things have improved. But she gave us binders and training consisted of taking turns reading out of it. At the beginning, someone asked how she became qualified to certify encapsulators. The short answer was she googled it. She didn't give us a list of necessary tools so we didn't have enough gloves... I don't think the information was accurate... and the promised "hands on from beginning to end" was laughable. Since she stayed with me, we had more of a conversation and she told me how some one said it was "the best training they'd ever taken." I can't fathom who would say that. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
This experience was evidently similar to that of the trainees in Australia. The sources quoted above want the birth community to know that this may not be the best option for a training in placental encapsulation, and that signing up may result in a loss of hard-earned money, whether due to a training cancellation with no refund, or due to inferior training. <br />
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It seems that many in the birth community are learning the hard way to do research on organizations offering training before investing their money and/or their reputations. <br />
<br />Birth Scam Reporthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10005090736007076409noreply@blogger.com71tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4678678873408966084.post-17368785399272910882013-01-26T21:00:00.000-08:002013-01-26T21:00:04.169-08:00Spinning BrioBrio is at it again! With Kylomi back in control of the Facebook page, they are trying to direct traffic and scam money any way they can. Witness their response when someone asks about the availability of classes:<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kmAZQuTPImo/UQSei9HI65I/AAAAAAAAAFY/UszgBmZi91I/s1600/infobriobirth1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kmAZQuTPImo/UQSei9HI65I/AAAAAAAAAFY/UszgBmZi91I/s1600/infobriobirth1.png" height="93" width="320" /></a></div>
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Since they don't appear to actually have any educators anywhere, their "options" are likely a virtual class taught by Naomi. Any bets on how much they charge? A $50 fire sale come-on price? A vastly over-inflated $595? If anyone actually knows the answer to this question, please comment, inquiring minds want to know. Also, note the new e-mail address:<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3RGiPmELMkM/UQSeH5h_myI/AAAAAAAAAFQ/nEkYLsAtZ_A/s1600/infobriobirth2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3RGiPmELMkM/UQSeH5h_myI/AAAAAAAAAFQ/nEkYLsAtZ_A/s1600/infobriobirth2.png" height="117" width="320" /></a></div>
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A new e-mail address likely means a new Paypal or Google Checkout account. Something new for the AAHCC to freeze perhaps? <br />
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<br />Birth Scam Reporthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10005090736007076409noreply@blogger.com42tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4678678873408966084.post-23772395752801777152013-01-23T13:30:00.000-08:002013-01-23T13:30:00.518-08:00Ask KarlIn the wake of Kylomi regaining control of the Brio Facebook Page, the silence from Karl is deafening. <br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/V1Wv-ckwmBw?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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Please bump any outstanding questions for Karl into this thread - hopefully this will help to organize things a bit if he has been offline.Birth Scam Reporthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10005090736007076409noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4678678873408966084.post-88796196774559976102013-01-08T04:00:00.000-08:002013-01-08T04:00:13.593-08:00Make an OfferAn anonymous source sent me the content of the offer letter for the assets of Brio Birth, asking that it be published in toto. <br />
<br />
<br />
<i><span style="color: yellow;">To Whom It May Concern:</span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: yellow;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="color: yellow;">My name is Karl Clinger. I began working with Brio Birth in April of 2010 to assist in the area of technology. Already, there were many who had contributed their time and efforts to the intellectual property of Brio Birth, like the workbook and articles for the website. Nobody had a solid contract, but I was not willing to work without any terms to protect my investment of both time and money. So, I required that ownership of company assets (at the time) at least up to the value of my contributions would be retained.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: yellow;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="color: yellow;">Contractually, I own several domains for Brio Birth, including briobirth.com. Web tracking statistics show that this domain has more traffic than any other childbirth education related site. I also own all of the intellectual property of Brio Birth, which includes the social media. The Facebook page has almost 25,000 likes. Compare that to Lamaze with 2,200 and Bradley Method’s 5,635 likes. In short, my assets includes anything produced by the efforts of Brio Birth (like the highly esteemed Brio Birth Workbook). </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: yellow;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="color: yellow;">These terms were executed in a contract predating any judgments against Brio Birth, LLC. Kyle Thomas, CEO of Brio Birth, LLC, signed the agreement fully intending for me to be involved with much more growth than even has been realized. I had an amazing idea that I felt would benefit the company, but a difference in business philosophies has encouraged me to go in a different direction. I already have an impressive short list of very capable, well respected people in the birth community who could take over and make Brio Birth what I know it should be. I have also spoken with a few organizations that feel they could benefit greatly from one or more of the assets listed above. Therefore, I am writing this letter to several organizations that could possibly benefit from any of the assets listed above.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: yellow;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="color: yellow;">Alexa.com has briobirth.com ranked 1,890,844 globally. (The higher the number is the better.) Compare that to 628,618 for Lamaze and 1,130,559 for bradleybirth.com. Estimations of the value of facebook likes vary. On the low end, it is estimated that a facebook like is worth between $50 and $100. Higher, corporate, estimations put the value of a facebook like at an average of $137.84. At the most conservative estimates, the Brio Birth facebook page is worth $1,250,000. Websites with similar metrics and comparisons within their own industry sell anywhere from $200,000 to $10,000,000. Rights to the workbook alone could produce massive retail sales or be used to improve existing materials of any childbirth education company. It is considered by most in the birth community to be the best manual available.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: yellow;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="color: yellow;">I apologize for my delay in writing this letter. The most recent development with the Thomases is that they will now be operating under Brio Birth, LLC. I am not sure what they will sell and how they will operate, because I am the only one with administrative access to any of the hosting, email and social media accounts. I have a contract signed by Kyle Thomas giving me sole ownership of the assets described in this email. </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: yellow;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="color: yellow;">I would like to cash out. However, in the absence of a suitable offer I will enlist the services of very qualified birth professionals who will use these assets as a starting point to make an organization like Brio Birth was supposed to be.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: yellow;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="color: yellow;">Sincerely,</span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: yellow;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="color: yellow;">Karl Clinger</span></i><br />
<br />
I will note that I have reason to believe that this was distributed before <a href="http://birthscamreport.blogspot.com/2013/01/from-embryos-to-eggs.html?showComment=1357543705350#c8575376182578941406" target="_blank">Karl renounced rights</a> to the Brio Birth workbook. That said, I am concerned that someone citing <a href="http://www.alexa.com/search?q=briobirth.com&r=site_screener&p=bigtop" target="_blank">alexa rankings</a> in order to make a sales pitch is not aware that a lower ranking on alexa.com is better than a higher one. Consider the rankings of <br />
babiesrus.com (21,598), babycenter.com (757), or facebook.com (2). I am also a bit leery of the value of a Facebook like, but would like to note that if anyone is interested, the Birth Scam Report Facebook page is worth at least $50,000. Humor aside, I could see some value, if not the above stated estimates, if the likes were of good quality, likely to turn into some sort of sale, or at least ad revenue. Many of the likes on Brio Birth are not of that quality, though, and this should be taken into consideration. <br />
<br />
I'm afraid that in many ways, Brio Birth is not much more than an albatross. I strongly agree with the camp that encourages simply shutting it all down. If the Thomases plan to continue operating under Brio Birth, LLC, maybe Kyle would be interested in purchasing the domains and Facebook pages back. He might be able to find an investor somewhere.<br />
Birth Scam Reporthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10005090736007076409noreply@blogger.com208tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4678678873408966084.post-88405829722932231772013-01-05T23:31:00.000-08:002013-01-05T23:31:02.399-08:00From Embryos to Eggs?In the wake of the<a href="http://birthscamreport.blogspot.com/2012/05/parking-pass-scam.html" target="_blank"> parking pass scandal</a> last spring, some rumors were swirling about a "breakup" of the Clingers and the Thomases that would effectively cut Brio's funding and cripple the scam. Unfortunately, those rumors did not seem to bear out the events that so many of us had hoped for.<br />
<br />
This blog has been largely silent about Karl Clinger and his association with Brio Birth. There have been a few different reasons for that over time. One was mixed feelings that did include an element of compassion for him as a victim of the Thomases' scamming. One was a hope, for a brief, shining time last spring, that he would do the right thing on his own and shut Brio down for good. And one was that, as evinced by the lawsuit that he is still waging against Melissa (for you newbies, she was the author of Brio Vent, a previous blog dedicated to exposing the truth about Brio / Kyle and Naomi Thomas and their scams), he is not above bullying, including by abuse of the legal system. Now, however, I feel compelled to break that silence.<br />
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Coming soon from the Clingers: OVO Birth. It appears that this is to be a replacement for Brio Birth. So first we had Brio - the name of Kyle Thomas' little proposed empire, which purported to mean so many things, while <a href="http://www.brio.net/en/ToPlay.aspx" target="_blank">making people think of toy trains</a>. When he started exploiting the birth community, he also claimed it as related to the Greek word embrion, which is the basis of embryo, meaning life within. When he started having to run from federal judgments and mountains of other debt and threatened or pending litigation, along came Karl, the attempted human reputation shield, with <a href="http://nvsos.gov/sosentitysearch/CorpDetails.aspx?lx8nvq=4y4F0SBLNMsWgB%252f0kAUTag%253d%253d&nt7=0" target="_blank">Embrion Group, Inc</a> - a Nevada corporation, which was never fully legally incorporated, and after a time of waiting for the steps to be completed, <a href="http://nvsos.gov/sosentitysearch/FeeDetails.aspx?ctok=4y4F0SBLNMsWgB%252f0kAUTag%253d%253d" target="_blank">had its status revoked</a>. Now there is to be OVO Birth - OVO, obviously, from the Latin for egg. Ivy has protested to sources who wish to remain anonymous that it is solely her project, that Karl is not involved. A simple <a href="http://www.whois.com/whois/ovobirth.com" target="_blank">whois lookup of the domain</a>, however, tells a different story. From an outside perspective, Karl seems to be as uninvolved with OVO Birth as he was with <a href="http://www.whois.com/whois/briobirth.com" target="_blank">Brio Birth</a>. <br />
<br />
BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!<br />
<br />
At the same time, an anonymous source has revealed that Karl is attempting to sell Brio Birth... to the Hathaways! Points for brass cojones, anyway. He put himself forth as a continuation of Brio Birth, using most of the same principals in the company, collecting money on behalf of Brio Birth, even doing a foreign entry into CO as "Brio Birth", meaning he has assumed successor liability for all of Brio Birth's debts, including a $140,000 judgement against Brio for the Hathaways, and he turns around and offers to sell Brio's assets to them. Apparently, this package is supposed to be worth a lot of money:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.briobirth.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">A broken website</a> containing outdated and recycled blog posts, a lot of bad links, and an inaccurate list of educators, many of whom have publicly denounced Brio Birth</li>
<li><a href="https://www.facebook.com/briobirth?fref=ts" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Over 20,000 likes on Facebook</a>, many of which are poor quality - based on information and belief, they are either bought or they are the result of memes, many of them stolen, going viral - in other words, likes that will not be likely to convert into any kind of paying customer, and even ad revenue on a monetized site would be questionable</li>
<li>A large amount of intellectual property stolen from a yahoogroup that was created by educators, for educators</li>
<li>A workbook that contains a great deal of intellectual property that Brio itself doesn't have the rights to, and multiple cease and desist notices sent against it</li>
</ul>
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This anonymous source reports that the Clingers' plan is to use Brio to drive traffic to OVO, then post all the stolen IP publicly, claiming that they are "giving it back to the birth community". It is unclear whether Kylomi will be involved in any way with this new project, or whether they will be profiting in any way from it. </div>
Birth Scam Reporthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10005090736007076409noreply@blogger.com88tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4678678873408966084.post-10152724258126874642012-12-17T07:00:00.000-08:002012-12-17T07:00:09.833-08:00Who Would Associate With VERY Serious Offenders?Apparently, Gina Crosley-Corcoran, known to many as The Feminist Breeder, would. On <a href="http://thefeministbreeder.com/and-dr-amy-now-owes-me-750-or-30000-her-choice/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">her own blog</a>, TFB reveals that she has gotten into a little intellectual property tiff with another blogger who is notorious in the birth world. She notes that copyright infringement - in the form of the re-posting of a photo that she originally posted - is "a VERY serious offense." <br />
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Yet who is she inexplicably supporting and defending? You guessed it - Brio Birth, the folks who <a href="http://birthscamreport.blogspot.com/2012/12/brio-birth-growing-their-facebook-fan.html" target="_blank">can't seem to stay out of IP trouble</a>. Brio has aggressively courted TFB from its inception, due to her blog following. They even paid for advertising to sponsor her <a href="http://thefeministbreeder.com/tfbs-live-homebirth-blog-event/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">live blog of her homebirth</a>, giving her the coveted distinction of being one of the few who was actually paid in full by Brio for services rendered. <br />
<br />
There has been some confused speculation over the past year and a half about TFB's support, lack thereof, or shifting opinion regarding Brio, but make no mistake - her comments on their BirthLIVE cancellation thread were strongly supportive.<br />
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Multiple messages from knowledgeable parties about Brio's unethical and criminal activities, including their history of IP theft, have been met with a brush-off from TFB, who prides herself on her savvy and on her ability to stick up for the victim (as long as she decides the victim is worth supporting). I wonder how she would react if Brio reposted one of her pictures - or any of her blog content - as their own? She'd probably be blinded by a "thanks to The AMAZING Feminist Breeder! Warmly, Naomi" or a "we'd love to give credit"...<br />
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Because, after all, Brio is no Dr. Amy. They're much less honest about who they are, and much more damaging to the birth world.Birth Scam Reporthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10005090736007076409noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4678678873408966084.post-83878136593165553782012-12-14T04:00:00.000-08:002012-12-14T04:00:00.176-08:00Brio Birth - Growing Their Facebook Fan Base, One Intellectual Property Theft at a Time<br />
<i><span style="color: yellow;">The following is a guest post by an anonymous reader, with a bit of formatting by me. Many thanks to this guest blogger for the thorough and enlightening post!</span></i><br />
<br />
If you are familiar with Facebook, you will know that people share photos and videos on Facebook quite readily. You've probably done it yourself. It's what Facebook is all about, right? <br />
<br />
Well, yes, sort of. You have to be careful in how you do it in order to protect copyright law. Regarding posting content, they have some rules for "Protecting other people's rights."<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9u2xj8ulkrE/UMqnEqt6soI/AAAAAAAAADs/9UFnJ0_TTNU/s1600/FB+Terms+of+Service+.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9u2xj8ulkrE/UMqnEqt6soI/AAAAAAAAADs/9UFnJ0_TTNU/s320/FB+Terms+of+Service+.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
It is important to note that "posting" is different than "sharing." When you "share" something, you are not claiming to hold any ownership in it. You are just saying "hey, I thought this was interesting, and thought my friends might like it too." It's like loaning a book or CD to a friend. But you "post" something when you put it into your own photo album. You have made a copy of it and are claiming it as yours. Once it is in your photo album, when someone else shares it, it will then post to their profile as being YOUR picture. <br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CmXQ0bVF__8/UMqnOMu-U8I/AAAAAAAAAD0/BU8WQX4GiOc/s1600/Danielles+photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CmXQ0bVF__8/UMqnOMu-U8I/AAAAAAAAAD0/BU8WQX4GiOc/s320/Danielles+photo.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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By doing this you have violated the first rule of posting in Facebook's Terms of Service...you have "posted content...that violates someone else's [copy]rights." And you have broken copyright law, which you can be sued for. Don't believe it can happen to you because you aren't making money off of the photos or you are careful to mention where you got the photos? Think again! One blogger explained about her painful experience with being sued here: <a href="http://www.roniloren.com/blog/2012/7/20/bloggers-beware-you-can-get-sued-for-using-pics-on-your-blog.html" target="_blank"> http://www.roniloren.com/blog/2012/7/20/bloggers-beware-you-can-get-sued-for-using-pics-on-your-blog.html</a> Only if you have permission to use the photo can you "post" it without violating copyright laws.<br />
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Now "Doula Dorothy" is unlikely to sue my friend Danielle for copying the meme. But someone who makes their living off of selling photos just might.<br />
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So what does this have to do with Brio?<br />
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Many people have wondered what is behind the astronomical growth in Brio's fan base. Like most anything else of value, the Brio Bunch has built their fan base through intellectual property (IP) theft. Photos like those of the <a href="http://www.facebook.com/briobirth#!/photo.php?fbid=564932180188970&set=a.388617184487138.113447.183429675005891&type=1&theater" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">explosive pregnancy from an air pump</a> that was shared 275 times in the first 17 hours after Brio posted it. The Brio Bunch claimed not to be able to find the original owner of this series of pictures, but I was able to find out that the photographer's name is <a href="http://avaxnews.net/funny/Birth_Of_A_Child_by_Patrice_Laroche.html" target="_blank">Patrice Laroche</a> in Canada with only a minimal amount of Google sleuthing.<br />
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When a fan of Brio Birth shares one of Brio's stolen pictures, and then several of their friends share the picture, and then several of their friends share the picture...it retains links back to Brio's page, and a quick link for people to click on to "like" Brio Birth. One video that Brio Birth has pirated in this manner about an 8 month old boy getting a cochlear implant has gotten 350,000 shares and over 800,000 likes! This gives them huge exposure from which to gain new fans. Most likely most of them don't really care about low intervention birth, but just like the cute pictures and videos that are shared on the Brio Birth page.<br />
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What happens if you post photos that belong to someone else? In addition to possibly suing you, the copyright holder can report the photos to Facebook as an IP theft and have them removed from Facebook. If this happens enough times you may "get thrown in Facebook jail." That is, as per rule # 5, your posting privileges may be disabled. Recently some of the photos Brio has been posting have been reported as IP infringement, and this is likely what has led to the Brio Bunch labeling their photos as "Shared with permission from..." or "we don't know who owns this..." BTW...getting permission to re-post stolen IP is also illegal, so just because the Brio Bunch is thanking Birth Stories on Demand for sharing the <a href="http://www.facebook.com/briobirth#!/photo.php?fbid=320734264608764&set=a.388617184487138.113447.183429675005891&type=1&theater" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">food based cervical dilation chart</a> does not get them off the hook for IP theft; though it seems unlikely that the original owner of this piece is interested in protecting the IP as it has been posted far and wide on the internet without any apparent attempt to have it removed.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(<a href="http://www.fireside-home.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=87_143&products_id=5016" target="_blank">click here to see banner</a>)</td></tr>
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Incidentally, just because the Brio Bunch claims not to know how to contact the source of a particular piece of IP doesn't mean that is true. They claimed not to know who the mother was of the boy with a cochlear implant mentioned above...but 4 months prior to saying that Naomi had watched the original video on YouTube.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SYKoa9cDCHQ/UMqp2s6tNAI/AAAAAAAAAEE/rK9F2xRo5os/s1600/Naomis+claim+on+FB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SYKoa9cDCHQ/UMqp2s6tNAI/AAAAAAAAAEE/rK9F2xRo5os/s320/Naomis+claim+on+FB.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6eKoWLumbLU/UMqqfCliIkI/AAAAAAAAAEU/PTDQdy0Wd3c/s1600/Naomis+YouTube+records+upright.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6eKoWLumbLU/UMqqfCliIkI/AAAAAAAAAEU/PTDQdy0Wd3c/s320/Naomis+YouTube+records+upright.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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It is simple to Google the account holder's YouTube ID, which leads to a Pinterest account that has the mother's real name. If Naomi doesn't have a Pinterest account which would allow her to contact the mother via that forum, she could find her on Facebook.<br />
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<i><span style="color: yellow;">So there you have it... this appears to be how Brio Birth is seeing such explosive growth in their fan base. Most of the likes are not directly from the birth community or parents impacted by Brio Birth - they are simply people who liked pictures and videos that were posted. Pictures and videos that were stolen. Apparently, this is Brio's definition of "doing good." If you see IP shared by Brio Birth that you know is not appropriately credited, you may wish to point it out to Brio - or the owner of the IP. </span></i><br />
Birth Scam Reporthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10005090736007076409noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4678678873408966084.post-61263416098278520022012-12-13T06:00:00.000-08:002012-12-13T06:00:06.972-08:00Any Current Brio Birth Educators or Students Out There?The normal rules on this blog are that if you want to defend or talk up Brio Birth, to do it elsewhere, because positive talk about Brio is not suppressed there. This is a safe place to share the truth about the darker underbelly of Brio Birth. In almost any other forum, that is strictly forbidden, because either it's controlled by Brio (and thus deleted), well-meaning forum owners or mods want to keep a happy-happy-joy-joy community and avoid controversy, or people are afraid to post because the Brio Bunch have shown themselves to be bullies, using legal threats to intimidate hardworking mothers who just want to serve others and supplement their family's income doing it. <br />
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That said, we've had reports of people taking virtual childbirth classes and instructor trainings. Here's your chance! Be very specific. What do you like about the training? The program? The materials? What exactly are they offering? What do you dislike? Do you feel you are getting your money's worth? What about the website - what are your thoughts on the design? The functionality? Have you had the opportunity to network with other Brio students or any of the educators listed on the website? Comments positive to Brio will not be deleted if they contain specific factual examples and realistic assessments. Comments in the vein of "OMG U ALL R TURBLE I DON'T UNDERSTAND Y U HATE THE MOMMAZ AND BAYBEEZ BRIO IS GONNA SAVE THE WORLD!!!!!" that contain purely emotional appeals and no specific information and examples will, however, be deleted. We might make fun of them, too. </div>
Birth Scam Reporthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10005090736007076409noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4678678873408966084.post-68741604200509673142012-12-10T05:00:00.000-08:002012-12-13T19:40:05.630-08:00Facebook PageAt the request of a reader, I have started a Facebook Page where people can interact. I'm not really an expert Facebook user, so any tips are welcome. I'm not even sure how to make the page searchable, but you can find it <a href="https://www.facebook.com/protectingthebirthcommunity" target="_blank">here</a>. I definitely plan to post blog links, as well as quick updates when available. I welcome your input. <br />
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<i><span style="color: yellow;">Update: I have claimed a user name for this page. Since Facebook seems to filter for the word "scam" in user names, the page can be found at <a href="http://www.facebook.com/protectingthebirthcommunity">http://www.facebook.com/protectingthebirthcommunity</a>. Thanks for your support!</span></i>Birth Scam Reporthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10005090736007076409noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4678678873408966084.post-77388003260029977462012-12-09T23:00:00.000-08:002012-12-09T23:00:05.159-08:00BirthLIVE ReduxSo a week after the big statement was promised, it was published. The initial reaction: it took them a week to come up with this drivel? It doesn't make any sense!<br />
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<i><span style="color: yellow;">It is with sad hearts and disappointed hopes that Brio Birth is announcing the cancellation of our very first birthLIVE birth.</span></i><br />
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Quite possibly the only true thing in the statement. We should just stop here. <br />
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... No? Then proceed, intrepid reader, but don your hip waders and watch out for Pinocchio's nose!<br />
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<i><span style="color: yellow;">While we have received a ton of support and there has been much excitement there has also been a small but determined group of individuals whose focus has been to destroy this opportunity for not only the mother that was bravely willing to share her birth, for all of the mothers who could have been inspired by this birth and for the producer, Brio Birth whose desire is to help educate women everywhere.</span></i><br />
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How are they measuring "support", exactly, other than in weight? Maybe we should try measuring in Brio's favorite units - currency. When you subtract contributions by the Brio Bunch and known cronies (leaving in the questionable "Anonymous" contributions), they raised approximately $500 out of a proposed $25,000, or 2% of their goal. That doesn't seem like a "ton" of support, at least not where it really counts. And those monies were refunded to the contributors when their campaign was yanked - Eureka! The small but determined group of individuals must have been the Indiegogo staff team, who openly told inquirers that they pulled the campaign because it was too high risk (which appears to be a politically correct way of saying "probable fraud").<br />
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<i><span style="color: yellow;">Surprisingly much of this destructive activity has not come from the medical world hoping to stop the mainstream acceptance of home birth and the choice to have a vaginal birth after a cesarean section, (VBAC) but from our own natural birth community.</span></i><br />
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Could you describe the "destructive activity", sir? And oh, that birth community - it really treats poor Brio and Kylomi like dirt, doesn't it? Wasn't it also the "birth community" that forced poor Kylomi to have an unassisted birth? (Translation: no homebirth midwife would work with them because they had cheated their previous midwife and lied to the one who actually considered working with them, not to mention all the other issues that had made Naomi's name mud long since, and they freely chose not to take any of the many truly natural birth friendly hospital options available to them.)<br />
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<i><span style="color: yellow;">We have actively tried to stay away from the negativity and let our actions speak for themselves, unfortunately there are so many who let the fear and negativity cloud what they know to be good. We ask everyone to stop and do two things -</span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: yellow;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="color: yellow;">1. Look around BrioBirth.com - see the good being done</span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: yellow;">2. Look at our Brio Birth Facebook Page - the largest in natural birth education - and again see the good that is being done</span></i><br />
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Rest assured, Brio, your actions have definitely spoken for themselves. Very loudly. And more people are beginning to notice. One thing we can agree on - everyone should definitely look around briobirth.com. Take note of the defunct website that was designed to be an ad server and couldn't even do that right. Browse through the recycled months-old blog posts. Search for an educator near you! If you can even turn up any results, they are likely educators who left Brio over a year ago. Many will openly denounce Brio. <br />
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While you're at it, go ahead and look at the Brio Birth Facebook page. So it's got a ton of likes - you can get those when you make a full-time job of trying to drum them up. It is completely possible to buy likes, and one of Brio's favorite techniques is to steal IP and redistribute it as their own. So please, go look at the "good" that is being done by posting stolen memes, re-posting fan questions, and putting up vapid discussion topics such as "what two things will you miss about parenting when your kids are grown?". Maybe it's engaging a Facebook user that would otherwise be a serial killer out harming people. That would be some "good", I guess. <br />
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<i><span style="color: yellow;">We are disappointed and sad that a few voices have been enough to stop this brave mother from sharing her birth with the world.</span></i><br />
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So how, exactly, have these "few voices" - whoever they are: Indiegogo? the Birth Community? the One-Armed Man? the Media? - stopped this event, let alone a mother sharing her birth with the world, which she could do without the stain of Brio on it? Since when does "negativity" stop an event? <br />
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<i><span style="color: yellow;">We cannot give those voices power and we will not go quietly into the night. We are continuing on with the birthLIVE project, just slower than we had hoped, with Brio Birth will be funding the events.</span></i><br />
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Oh, we are quite sure you will not go quietly into the night. That is why Birth Scam Report, its readers, and more and more of your victims will be there, watching your every move, protecting the mothers, babies, and unsuspecting birth professionals from your scams.<br />
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<i><span style="color: yellow;">We at Brio Birth want to thank Nicole, Matt and her birth team for their courage and love for each other - you are inspirations to all of us.</span></i><br />
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I think everyone wishes Nicole, her family, and her birth team the best. No one ever "harassed" Nicole, despite Brio's vigorous protests. No one was even really harassing Brio - the only thing "harassing" Brio was their own history of misdeeds.<br />
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In summary, a lot of whining and finger pointing, not much of substance. Moving right along... <br />
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Birth Scam Reporthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10005090736007076409noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4678678873408966084.post-82639254351683477782012-12-07T21:35:00.000-08:002012-12-07T21:35:10.805-08:00The New BirthLIVE Project - Independent, or Another Shell?With the implosion of the "<a href="http://www.facebook.com/events/221481587983859/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">FREE Live Streamed View of Childbirth</a>" and its corresponding Indiegogo campaign, many of us are wondering what is going to happen with the event. A <a href="https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BzXPLZTWq8pdSElpdGJwQ1BId0E" target="_blank">statement </a>was promised "shortly" on Saturday, December 1st. Several inquiries were made throughout the week. Finally, on Thursday, December 6th, after yet another inquiry the night before, the ever-responsive "Brio Birth" deflected, saying that Nicole had been sick with a stomach bug that week. (Was that before or after the<a href="https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BzXPLZTWq8pdRkVMWF9yZzhacXM" target="_blank"> trip to the beach</a>?) Oh, and her family, too! Play that family card with the birth community - that will hold them off. Why was Nicole the one writing the statement, anyway? What happened to taking care of the pregnant mom, protecting her from "harrassment"? That statement was Brio's responsibility. But let's move on...<br />
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Despite the utter lack of any kind of announcement from Brio, there seems to be some motion behind (or beside?) the scenes. Suddenly we see the <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1h84GKxIFMeh2XGmTGBun-rFPxl6glK4hukMs0DcuBdk/edit" target="_blank">half-formed</a>, but already-launched, "<a href="http://www.birthlive.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">birthLIVE.org</a>". (Yes, they have a <a href="http://www.facebook.com/birthLIVE" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Facebook page</a> already, too!) This page announces that Nicole is "<a href="http://www.birthlive.org/?p=8" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">the Brains</a>" behind the project (with a <a href="https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BzXPLZTWq8pdazhaNHJ0ejFKMlU" target="_blank">Lorem Ipsum</a>? Really?), but it does not give any indication of who the rest of the body is, though that body seems to be very possessive ("our wonderful" Nicole Hoff? This writing drips with Naomi's style). My suspicion is that it is a front for Brio, with Nicole providing cover for the Thomases, just as they got Karl Clinger and Embrion to do. I could be wrong, and if Nicole is really doing this without any of the Brio Bunch, power to her. <br />
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Even more interesting is the <a href="http://www.birthlive.org/?page_id=35" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Funds </a>page - the most complete page on the site as of this writing, but no, it's not about the money. (Screenshot saved for posterity <a href="https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BzXPLZTWq8pdV0lmSmxob3NRS00" target="_blank">here</a>.)<br />
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<i><span style="color: yellow;">"As you can see we are a .org meaning that no individual or business will take profits from the birthLIVE project.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: yellow;">This does not mean we will not be paying for services provided to the project by outside companies, or that our people will not be paid just that no one is going to get rich off of the birthLIVE project."</span></i></div>
<div style="border: 0px; clear: none; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: transparent;">FALSE. Anybody can purchase a .org domain - for their nonprofit, their for-profit business, their family, or any other website they want to make.</span></div>
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<i><span style="color: yellow;">"No more than 20% will ever go to administration or operational costs, and to start we will keep it under 10%. To put this into perspective many non-profit entities have less than a 20% pass through – meaning that nearly 80% of their funds go to administrations and operational costs."</span></i><br />
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FALSE. According to <a href="http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=content.view&cpid=48" target="_blank">charitynavigator.org</a>, (OH LOOK! A .ORG DOMAIN!) 70% of the charities they evaluated have a pass through of 75% or greater, and 90% have a pass through of 65% or greater. 80% pass through is a laudable goal, but not really a distinctive feat.<br />
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<i><span style="color: yellow;">"We know that you may be saying “those numbers don’t add up..."</span></i><br />
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You bet we are. Birth Scam Reporthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10005090736007076409noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4678678873408966084.post-2020571339981968332012-12-05T06:00:00.000-08:002012-12-13T19:55:42.349-08:00What to Do if You've Been Burned<b><span style="color: yellow;">Updated with more channels for complaints on Dec 13th, 2012</span></b><br />
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So you've been scammed by Brio Birth. If you were part of the initial group of educators, I feel your pain. If you jumped on board later, I have much more mixed feelings. There was a huge body of red flags out there that even a simple google search should have revealed. There are also many childbirth educators, doulas, midwives and so on out there who have raised their voices in warning, and yet people jumped in anyway, enabling the Brio Bunch to continue scamming the birth community and innocent mothers.<br />
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With that said, if you have truly finally seen the light, welcome to the other side! You may never see a dime of any money that you may have put out, though you could get lucky, but you can make your experience mean something, and try to recoup what you lost along the way. Here are a couple of suggestions for actions you might take. <br />
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<ol>
<li>Charge back any money you paid via Paypal or Google Checkout. You can also file a fraud complaint. Brio has had, as of this writing, at least one Paypal and at least one Google Checkout account shut down. Keep them on the run.</li>
<li>If you are unsuccessful in getting a refund via Paypal/Google Checkout, be sure to file a complaint with the service, and if you used a credit card, go to your credit card provider. Some victims have had success getting a refund to their credit card by doing this.</li>
<li>File a complaint with IC3, the <a href="http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx" target="_blank">Internet Crime Complaint Commission</a>. They investigate internet fraud and white collar crime, and they take a vacuum-cleaner approach and then correlate complaints that are scattered geographically. Thus, they might realize that an educator in Oregon and an educator in Florida were both scammed by Brio Birth, and lend more weight to the need for an investigation into their internet activities.</li>
<li>File a complaint with the <a href="https://www.coloradoattorneygeneral.gov/departments/consumer_protection/file_consumer_complaint/consumer_complaint_form" target="_blank">CO Attorney General's Office</a>. This will reach BBB and/or law enforcement as appropriate.</li>
<li>Share your experience with your local birth community and any birth-y contacts you have elsewhere. Let the truth flow through the internet, in hopes that eventually there will be a dense enough net that they can't continue to swim through. They are thriving on others' silence, however well intended that silence might be. </li>
</ol>
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Please feel free to add to this list in the comments. I know that people have gone to other law enforcement resources including the F.B.I. and different levels of prosecuting attorneys, and I would love to hear experiences from these efforts. With good information, this may become its own tab that people can refer to.Birth Scam Reporthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10005090736007076409noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4678678873408966084.post-67258920340941109152012-12-04T09:19:00.001-08:002012-12-05T20:42:43.587-08:00Brio's Latest Scam, Part III: Popcorn and CoffeeAs many readers saw, there was a blowup on the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/221481587983859/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Birth Live event page</a> yesterday. Anybody who has any experience with the inside of Brio Birth knows that Naomi has one of the quickest delete buttons in the west. Unfortunately for the Brio Bunch, most of the posters knew it, and took screenshots of the action as it unfolded. Thank you to the multiple sources who sent screenshots. <a href="https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BzXPLZTWq8pdUkYzdDdQTWdzRE0" target="_blank">Here is a link</a> to a large portion of the screenshots (more will likely be posted later - the more complete version was having difficulties with some requested redaction). You may need to zoom in a bit to read, depending on your browser. <br />
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There are so many things I could say about so many of the comments, but I think I may just let it speak for itself. Please feel free to add your two cents here!Birth Scam Reporthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10005090736007076409noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4678678873408966084.post-68947026485516149812012-12-02T06:00:00.000-08:002012-12-02T06:00:02.096-08:00Brio Basics: Question from a Reader... MaybeI received this e-mail, and I'm not sure whether the source is legitimate. However, the questions are worth asking, even if it is a fishing expedition, so I've chosen to publish it here:<br />
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<i>To make a long story short I am a volunteer lactation support volunteer with a local midwifery center that I am doing doula training with. They have never heard of Brio Birth, but are only vaguely familiar with Birth Professionals International, who I only heard of through Brio Birth. I was toying with the idea of becoming a Birth Educator of some form in addition to DONA certification since my husband thinks I spend enough time blogging for free I should make money out of it. I think the idea of paying for training makes sense, when I became a CNA I paid 350 bucks to take a two week course and it got me a job in hospital instead of a nursing home, I did the same with phlebotomy training before applying at a dialysis clinic, and when I wanted to keep my distaster repsonse certification up I paid for CPR/First Aid through the Red Cross. So is there something I am missing about Brio Birth? Or did they steal an education program from someone else? </i><br />
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<i>What do I need to know?</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>thanks.</i><br />
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A bit of poking around on the internet shows the only occurrence of the sender's name or e-mail address being a random question on a <a href="http://www.nurturingheartsbirthservices.com/blog/?p=1362" target="_blank">Nurturing Hearts</a> blog post a little over a year ago. That does indicate that the owner of this address might at least be in the birth world, but I still am not feeling a great deal of trust in it. If this person spends so much time "blogging for free", she must do it under a pseudonym. I could further dissect the sender, but instead I'll focus on the questions. Is there something she is missing about Brio Birth? Quite probably. Did they steal an education program from someone else? In a word, yes. Their "amazing, beautiful materials!" were put together by educators who were never compensated for their contributions, and had to fight to even get credit in the book. I wonder if that credits page still appears in the electronic copies that they distribute. Their childbirth class curriculum and their instructor training program were put together, again, by others who were never paid or even credited for their work, despite expectations presented when they were "hired" and verbal contracts. What does she need to know?<br />
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Well, she had my e-mail address. Therefore, she must have read at least something on this blog. This blog is a decent start on what she needs to know. She should check out the Files section, where she can find some very revealing audio files and documents. <br />
<br />
What else do you think she needs to know? Fire away!Birth Scam Reporthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10005090736007076409noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4678678873408966084.post-9722918163165808312012-11-28T06:00:00.000-08:002012-11-28T06:00:14.273-08:00Forgiveness... Is That What They're Calling It These Days?In a shameless promotion of <a href="http://www.indiegogo.com/birthLIVE?c=home" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Brio Birth's latest scam</a>, Naomi sent out an email pleading for funding to a very large list of addresses - and forgot to use the BCC: function. For those of you who know the ancient Brio history, this is not the first time this has happened. The first time, it caused a storm of angry reply-all messages and the creation of an alternate identity for Kyle named "Jeff Smith." This time, the recipients seem quieter, but in an exciting double whammy, the email address of at least one childbirth educator Brio has severely alienated was on that list. This person replied:<br />
<br />
----<br />
<i>Dear Naomi,</i><br />
<i>I am sure that you sent this to me by mistake. As you know, two years ago the Denver Police told your husband to never contact me. I am asking you to never include my email in any of your correspondance with others. Please take my address out of your contacts. I do not and will never support any of your projects.</i><br />
<i>Sincerely,</i><br />
----<br />
<br />
In an apparent misunderstanding of the phrase "never contact me," Naomi RESPONDED TO THE EMAIL with this mind-blowing bit of drivel:<br />
<br />
----<br />
<br />
<i>So sorry for the mixup. I have chosen to live in a way where I forgive like I have amnesia and apparently it has worked! Thank you for helping me to see that. I wish you the best I all of your endeavors. As we are successful in our individual endeavors we will only encourage everyone else to be successful. </i><br />
<br />
<i>With respect,</i><br />
<i>Naomi Thomas</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Sent from my iPad</i><br />
----<br />
<br />
What, no "warmly?" Somewhere, I think <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112697/" target="_blank">Cher Horowitz</a> is shaking her head. <br />
<br />
She wants to forgive like she has amnesia? Really? Maybe she wants people to get amnesia and forgive her. Of course, with her long history of syrupy cons and burnt bridges, that's a pretty tall order. Let's break this down, shall we? Who requires forgiveness here:<br />
<br />
1) the childbirth educator who was so frightened by Kyle that she felt the need to involve the police, and insisted that she never be contacted again, or<br />
<br />
2) the money-grubbing privacy invader who ignored that completely appropriate insistence and barged back into that childbirth educator's life?<br />
<br />
To anyone who lives outside the Brio Bubble, the answer is obvious, as is the identity behind door number 2. Our alienated childbirth educator sent quite possible the only civil response:<br />
<br />
----<br />
<i>Whatever Naomi. Do not email me again.</i><br />
----<br />
<br />
In the real world, Naomi, I think the word you're looking for is "delusion", not "forgiveness".<br />
Birth Scam Reporthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10005090736007076409noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4678678873408966084.post-87150710708148771362012-11-26T06:00:00.000-08:002012-11-27T19:57:42.089-08:00Brio's Latest Scam, Part II: The Money and the Tech, and the People, and the Money<span style="color: yellow;">UPDATE: The Indiegogo campaign has apparently been removed, and it seems that some or all contributors' money may have been refunded. Curious! Apparently </span><a href="https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwchypGzH4vsblR0NmJBN0hlRUE/edit?pli=1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Brio's story</a><span style="color: yellow;"> is that an "admin account" was hacked and the hacker removed the campaign. The </span><a href="https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwchypGzH4vsV0xrYVNMbEdYSDQ/edit" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">mother's story</a><span style="color: yellow;"> is that she believes the Brio Bunch, and the event is still on. Thanks to an anonymous commenter for the tip!</span><br />
<br />
With about a week and a half left of <a href="http://www.indiegogo.com/birthLIVE?c=home" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Brio's groveling campaign</a>, let's examine some other angles. The concept of the project itself was addressed in our previous post <a href="http://birthscamreport.blogspot.com/2012/11/brios-latest-scam-part-i-you-paid-25000.html" target="_blank">here</a>. <br />
<br />
Apparently, Brio has scheduled this birth for a month out and publicized it heavily without doing a single thing to make it happen. They have no skin in this game (gee, there's a surprise), unless you count the $5 contributed by "Denver Doula," the undisclosed amount (thought to be around $10 based on an analysis of early contributions) contributed by Karl Clinger, and a couple of other contributions by known cronies as viewable <a href="http://www.indiegogo.com/birthLIVE?c=pledges" target="_blank">here</a>. <br />
<br />
BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!<br />
<br />
This campaign is a "<a href="http://www.indiegogo.com/how-pricing-works-on-indiegogo" target="_blank">flexible funding</a>" campaign, which means that when they don't meet their funding goal (or even come close, unless those investors Kyle promised back in the beginning come through, maybe), the contributions will not be refunded. Brio will get to keep what was contributed, minus a 9% service fee to Indiegogo. In other words, they make grand promises, take other people's money, and show nothing for it. Deja vu, anyone? I wonder if the people who jumped on the bandwagon - especially those who bought "perks" like advertising or a month-long replay - understand how the funding for this campaign actually works. I wonder if Brio will still try to make a shoestring broadcast of the birth happen, with some cheap and/or borrowed webcams, or if they will simply do nothing, except blame the "haters" and have Naomi send some sugary non-apology emails to the people who gave money for nothing. <br />
<br />
So let's look at "The Tech and The Money." <br />
<br />
The Tech: The fancy cameras that they want to buy look pretty nice, but the battery life on the setup is only a couple of hours. Granted, precipitous births do happen, but they probably want to be prepared for a long birth. This is going to mean hooking up to a power source and hindering the movement of the POV cameras, or having a back-up battery for each camera, switching them out, and constantly re-charging. So there will definitely be feed interruptions if the birth is not precipitous. Also, who is going to be the battery doula? Then there are the Mac Minis supposedly required to process the feed. My guess is, somebody wants new toys. <br />
<br />
The Money: Again, this whole scheme might have a little more credibility if Brio were putting in any money to buy the toys. Also, for a group that claims to have so much technical and networking savvy, they appear to either have a blind spot or be purposefully inflating the prices. A relatively quick search turns up the equipment they have put out that they intend to use for lower prices than what they show on their little infographic, sometimes to the tune of hundreds of dollars per setup, and that is from somebody not putting in a great deal of time. If they were to dedicate a bit of time and effort to shopping, they could likely realize some pretty heavy savings. And they claim that they are putting in the money for personnel, travel, etc - I would love to know where they are getting that money, particularly when they have well over a quarter million dollars in judgments and debts that they haven't paid a dime towards, and they have a history of not even being able to pay their own rent. For greater amusement, look at what would be done with any money exceeding their goal (not that that's going to happen). It would be evenly divided five ways between:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Brio Birth - of course! Fancy dinners and toys aren't cheap.</li>
<li>The birthing family - makes sense. If she's going to display her birth to the world and deal with the invasion of privacy and the disturbance of the birthing process, she ought to be compensated.</li>
<li>"The PR/Advertising & Tech team" - so, by all appearances, the Brio Bunch. Hey! That ups their share to 40% of the extra money that's not going to be there! Surely they couldn't be playing a shell game for additional personal gain...</li>
<li>The mother's maternity and wellness center - now that's a good cause, especially in Texas, which is not known for its friendliness to birthing mothers.</li>
<li>A fund for another family to do THIS SAME THING! And I'm sure Brio will be there, cap in hand, asking for more money. Of course, I'm sure Brio will be holding this fund, which means it's in the hands of their excellent stewardship.</li>
</ul>
<div>
Then, of course, there's that other element - the People. I don't know this mother, except by all the information she's been putting all over the internet in connection with this project (and I think she protests a bit too much about not wanting to show off). I don't know the midwife, or the doulas. But I do know the Brio Bunch, and that gives me a bit of a sick sense about the entire project. </div>
Birth Scam Reporthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10005090736007076409noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4678678873408966084.post-38382890684801407502012-11-25T14:20:00.001-08:002012-11-27T19:57:23.815-08:00Brio's Latest Scam, Part I: You Paid $25,000 for a Used WHAT?<span style="color: yellow;">UPDATE: The Indiegogo campaign has apparently been removed, and it seems that some or all contributors' money may have been refunded. Curious! Apparently <a href="https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwchypGzH4vsblR0NmJBN0hlRUE/edit?pli=1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Brio's story</a> is that an "admin account" was hacked and the hacker removed the campaign. The <a href="https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwchypGzH4vsV0xrYVNMbEdYSDQ/edit" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">mother's story</a> is that she believes the Brio Bunch, and the event is still on. Thanks to an anonymous commenter for the tip!</span><br />
<br />
Brio Birth is now groveling for money to stream a live birth on both <a href="http://www.indiegogo.com/birthLIVE?c=home" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Indiegogo</a> and as part of a <a href="http://grantcontest.fedex.com/fedex-small-business-grant-voting/microsite/gallery/50a7398993c675994e043f03" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">FedEx small business grant contest</a>. For the moment, let's ignore the scammers behind the effort and look at the project itself, shall we? <br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The idea is to show the birth from six angles: the birth partner's point of view (Daddycam? Give me a break. Let's infantilize it a little bit more, shall we?), the midwife's point of view, the doula's point of view, overhead, wide-angle, and under water. This will stream live over the internet - yet, for some reason, they will need $7500 worth of equipment to "process" the video feed - for the whole world to watch. But that's enough about "the money and the tech" for now - I'll address that in another post. Now, I see that they appear to have amped up the birth team to include two doulas (so which one will wear the "Doulacam"?), but really, who is caring for mom while everybody's showboating with these fancy cameras? What if the other kids need a parent - will the "Daddycam" pass off to Doula #2? What if the planned waterbirth becomes a land birth? That actually happens quite often, for various reasons, including baby comes precipitously, mom doesn't want to be in the water, baby needs a bit more of a gravity assist, mom and baby need a bit more hands-on help from the midwife... Just because a mother thinks she wants to give birth in the water, even if she's done it before, doesn't mean that it will absolutely happen. Of course, they want to do a DOCUMENTARY, so the camera won't necessarily be wasted! </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
All these eyes on this birth are surely going to disturb the process as the birth team becomes a theatrical team, and birth as performance art generally doesn't end with a satisfied mother and baby, even if there is a good outcome. Carla Hartley of <a href="http://www.ancientartmidwifery.com/" target="_blank">Ancient Art Midwifery Institute</a>, a strong proponent of undisturbed birth, had this to say when people solicited her support on Facebook:<br />
<br />
<br />
<i><b>The next person who posts on my wall anything having to do with raising funds for anything having to do with the live broadcast of a birth will be blocked .... Really I am the last person on earth who will support such an atrocity. It is so wrong to screw with a baby's birth in order to make money for anyone .... And the folks behind this should be ashamed of themselves.</b></i><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The "folks behind this", Brio Birth, say that they want to "normalize" birth. Putting aside for the moment that watching a birth from all these different angles is anything but normal, even for those of us who have attended hundreds or thousands of births, what no one is saying is that this is not a "normal" situation. This mother is planning a homebirth after cesarean (HBAC). Yes, she has already had two vaginal births since her cesarean, and thus has a "proven scar". This does not mean that her situation is normal. Aside from the admittedly small risk of rupture,which happens on mothers with proven scars as well as mothers with no scars at all, yes, even in the absence of Pitocin or other such interventions, there is also an increased risk of hemorrhage, among other things. Birth is natural, but nature is not always kind. Does this mean that the mother should not give birth at home? Absolutely not. She has every right to make the informed choice to give birth where she chooses, with the care provider she chooses. However, this may not be the ONE BIRTH to choose to show how NORMAL birth is. If anything goes wrong, which, granted, could happen in any birth, those six cameras are going to contain all kinds of ammunition - not just for any lawsuit that might result, but also for the "birth is a medical event" crowd to pick apart EVERY SINGLE ASPECT of this "non-normal" birth. Aside from the fact that everyone's actions will be scrutinized, even if nothing goes wrong, this will definitely be on the mind of the midwife, and probably the rest of the birth team as well, and it will definitely impact their actions. This birth will not be normal. It will not be representative of normal birth. It will be less safe, and it will be less sacred. </div>
</div>
Birth Scam Reporthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10005090736007076409noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4678678873408966084.post-51991621022915226012012-10-08T17:00:00.000-07:002012-10-09T11:31:55.262-07:00Karma Will Take Care of It...... but how?<br />
<br />
Those who were scammed by Brio seem to take one of two stances. The first group is distancing themselves and remaining silent. They justify their stance with comments such as "Karma will take care of it." "What goes around, comes around." "I don't want to put negative energy into the birth world." "They'll ruin themselves in the end." The second group is actively trying to warn others and to redress what wrongs they can. They don't want others to get hurt the way they were - or worse. They want the community to be able to heal and move forward. They are often criticized, sometimes very harshly, by others for their actions. My question to those who would rather remain silent is, how can you know when you might have been the one person able to warn the next victim? How can you know that your action is not what would finally be the tipping point for stopping the scam once and for all? <br />
<br />
A former Brio educator shares:<br />
<br />
<i>After WWII, some German students volunteered to help rebuild a cathedral in England that had been heavily damaged by Luftwaffe bombings. As they worked, one of their tasks was to rebuild the statue of Jesus that had stood outside the church. Jesus' hands were outstretched, and the statue had an inscription that read, "Come Unto Me." They were able to piece together almost all of the statue, but they could not find Jesus' hands. Finally, they reached a decision that has taught many a valuable lesson: they left the reassembled statue without hands, and put a new inscription on the statue: "I Have No Hands But Yours."</i><br />
<br />
For those of you who believe that karma will take care of it, how do you know that karma is not trying to use YOUR hands?<br />
<br />
<br />Birth Scam Reporthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10005090736007076409noreply@blogger.com37tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4678678873408966084.post-56271697165556147572012-10-08T10:53:00.002-07:002012-10-08T10:53:31.705-07:00ResurfacingAs Brio's scams pick up more steam, this blog will hopefully be doing the same. I apologize for the long period of silence. A whole lot of life has gotten in the way of posting here. I have a few things people have sent me to post, and am working on more of the back story to get newer people more up to speed. Some of the comments left may inspire posts, too. I'm afraid the trolls that plagued Brio Vent (and quite possibly some of the arch scammers themselves) have found their way to this blog, and I am going to do all that I can to keep this a SAFE place. Please remember that the same community rules from Brio Vent apply - no libel, no fact-free or dishonest emotional defenses of Brio (you are welcome to post those to the spaces that they control, where people sharing their negative experiences with Brio are summarily shut down), you are welcome to remain anonymous, but please consider using your name or at least a consistent anonymous user ID. I do reserve the right to remove posts that are not in line with the goal of this blog. I encourage you, as a reading community, to self-police, and to e-mail me at birthscamreport@gmail.com if you feel that there is anything on this blog - comment or content - that should be edited, deleted, or even retracted. I have already responded to requests in this regard, and will continue to do so. Stay tuned for another post soon, with a lovely bit by an insightful contributor!Birth Scam Reporthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10005090736007076409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4678678873408966084.post-49716004255528932092012-06-04T15:51:00.004-07:002012-06-04T15:51:51.146-07:00Files Now AvailableDue to some computer switching issues, there has been a bit of a delay, sorry about that. I have finally gotten some files posted on the blog. They include Kyle's phone conversations with Angela Hathaway, court documents from the AAHCC lawsuit, and the Brio Non-Disclosure. You can access them by using the "Files" tab under the blog header. If you have any other files of interest, I would be happy to publish them here. You can send them to me at birthscamreport@gmail.com. Thank you to those who have provided these files for helping to spread the truth about Brio Birth.Birth Scam Reporthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10005090736007076409noreply@blogger.com113tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4678678873408966084.post-91266387871977099542012-05-20T19:24:00.000-07:002012-05-20T19:24:03.773-07:00A New Facebook Group<a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/311925892203777/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Birth Professionals of the World</a> is a relatively new Facebook Group started by former members of Birth Professionals of America/Birth Professionals International. It was created in early March to be a safe, inclusive space. The admins intend for it to be a space of open sharing, not a money-maker of any kind. It is worth noting that there are a couple of members in the group whose ties to Brio may arouse suspicion, however, they are not admins. The admins are trustworthy, and will take action as necessary to avoid drama. Current and former members of BPI, as well as professionals who were never members of BPI due to its ties to Brio, are joining daily.
If any birth professionals out there are looking for a safe community of birth professionals to join, this may be of interest.Birth Scam Reporthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10005090736007076409noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4678678873408966084.post-37826419271710203622012-05-16T11:41:00.001-07:002013-01-07T07:53:09.778-08:00Facebook - Birth Professionals International and Other PagesThis was posted recently by one of the admins on the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/BirthPros/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Birth Professionals International</a> group on Facebook. Many birth professionals, myself included, have not joined this group because Naomi was an admin. Others, upon finding out Naomi was an admin, left the group.<br />
<br />
<i>"This recently came to my attention: Pregnant women and those who serve them, BEWARE! Kyle Thomas and the very naive Naomi Thomas who head up Brio Birth and Birth Professionals International are at this moment pitching another money-making idea during an admin phone conference that I am choosing not to be a part of. [redacted names of tagged friends] have you seen this. Also, check the court records for multiple assault charges... Yikes!"</i><br />
<br />
A link to the <a href="http://www.9news.com/rss/story.aspx?storyid=267652" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">9 News story</a> on the parking pass scam was included. Further comments revealed more interesting information:<br />
<br />
[Comments originally posted here deleted because they came from a private thread addressing the same topic, not the BPI group. Clarification and the additional comments below were sent by a reader. Sorry for the confusion.]<br />
<br />
<i></i><br />
<i>"I love this group, but it was a huge concern of mine that Brio and its founders are members of this group. I decided to give it a try, knowing I could always leave if I didn't like it. So far so good. But yeah, if there are thoughts about charging to be a member of this group, I'd start my own."</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>"Yeah there are only two mods left (three counting Kyle) so [redacted name] shouldn't be part of it"</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>"What's this about having to pay to belong to this group?"</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>"From what I gather, the pitch is that BPI turns into a blog and then makes money by having members pay to run ads. I wonder where the money is anticipated to go..."</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>"Wow :( I don't even know what to say. So is it all a big scam?"</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>"Ivy Clinger It was never meant to be a scam! The legislator whonwas supposed to sign off on the passes didn't show up to the scheduled meeting. Brio arranged for the interviews, and they spun the story completely wrong. It was a huge disappointment, and the news story is incorrect."</i><br />
<br />
<i><br /></i>
Not surprisingly, the thread was deleted quickly - but not before parts of it were copied and distributed by concerned group members..<br />
<br />
In the interest of further caution, here is a list of Facebook pages run by Naomi:<br />
<br />
<br />
https://www.facebook.com/InaMayGaskin<br />
https://www.facebook.com/fansofhencigoer<br />
https://www.facebook.com/yourdenverdoula<br />
https://www.facebook.com/denverdoula.TM<br />
https://www.facebook.com/briobirth<br />
https://www.facebook.com/groups/BirthPros/<br />
https://www.facebook.com/suzanne.arms<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Any content posted on or shared with these pages is going straight to Naomi, and may wind up being used for Brio Birth's profit. At this time, it is unknown whether Ina May Gaskin is aware of or approves of "her" page. It is known that Naomi has relationships with Henci Goer and Suzanne Arms. If anyone knows of any pages run by Naomi that I have not mentioned, please comment or e-mail with that information.</div>
<br />Birth Scam Reporthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10005090736007076409noreply@blogger.com52tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4678678873408966084.post-4372558430627411632012-05-12T23:50:00.000-07:002012-05-14T00:02:26.305-07:00Parking Pass ScamWith the pool of educators from which Brio Birth can con money running dry, they are finding ways to take their scam directly to the pregnant population that we honest birth workers serve. Their latest effort is to sell women in their third trimester a <a href="http://www.briobirth.com/parkingpass" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">six-month "courtesy pass"</a> that they can hang in their car and park in handicapped spaces. Unfortunately, the placards are just as much of a scam as the rest of Brio Birth - they are not valid under the law, and if a woman tried to use it in her third trimester or the rest of the time allotted after the baby was born, she would find herself out not only the price she paid for the hang tag, but also the amount of the parking ticket she'd incur for using a handicapped spot without a valid permit. When Brio sought media coverage for the "launch" of this effort on the Friday before Mother's Day, Denver channels 4 and 9 answered - with coverage about a scam selling bogus parking passes to pregnant women. Here are the links to the news stories:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.9news.com/rss/story.aspx?storyid=267652" target="_blank">9 News</a><br /><br /><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/video/denvercbs4-15750663/man-accused-of-selling-bogus-parking-passes-for-pregnant-women-29273673.html" target="_blank">Channel 4 (via Yahoo News)</a><br /><br />Kyle finally got himself on television, but probably not the way he was hoping. In his efforts to backpedal and deny that he was illegally selling invalid handicapped parking permits, he basically said that people could buy them, but he would not send them out. So, taking people's money, then not giving them the product or service they paid for - does this sound familiar? <br /><br />The <a href="http://www.9news.com/comments/267652/0/DMV-warns-pregnant-parking-passes-are-fake-" target="_blank">response essay offered by Brio Birth</a> (search for the comment by "Brio Birth" several comments down) is also full of contradictions, and probably too long for most people to care to read. Sadly, it appears from the replies that a few people are still fooled.Birth Scam Reporthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10005090736007076409noreply@blogger.com10