I was approached by motherbabyonline.com to do a recorded telephone 
interview for use on their site. I wanted to know how the site was being 
financed, and the recruiter told me that the purpose of the site was for 
the creation of products that could be sold to new mothers. The same 
group also has sites on pregnancy, conception, and infertility.

Sounded like something I had to research, so I did. The principles of 
the site are two men who both own consulting firms (one with his wife), 
and have no obvious relationship to the breastfeeding community.

1. They don't seem to be telling moms that they are being used for 
"insight mining" for commercial purposes in their other sites, though 
when I asked the recruiter if visitors to the site would be told that 
they were being used for data gathering for commercial purposes on 
motherbabyonline.com, she said they would, but did not say if it would 
be in fine print somewhere, or right up front. Here's an example of one 
of the invitations to participate in information gathering for one of 
the related sites, he's making it sound as if it's JUST to make the 
website meet the needs of users.
http://www.allaboutconception.com/

I'm quoting a small segment, in case it's been taken down already (the 
phone date was last week):
 > I am currently working to develop a series of free web portals which
will allow pregnant women, TTCers and new moms to access the information
they want and need about their pregnancies and parenthood. I have
exhaustively surveyed hundreds of women to gain unique insight into
their thoughts, feelings, needs, desires, questions, and concerns.
 >
 > I've learned a lot to this point, but to truly be sure that I am
 > fully understanding the concerns that have been brought forward I
 > need to put a bit more of that human touch into the research. And,
 > that is where I need YOU!
 >
 > I am hosting a number of "rap sessions" via telephone. During these
 > rap sessions you'll have a chance to connect with other women and
 > swap war stories, questions, concerns, and much, much more! This will
 > be a wonderful opportunity for you to meet with other pregnant women.
 > Participants of these teleconferences often comment on how great it
 > is discover that they are not alone – no matter how strange they
 > thought their issue or situation was!

2. They both own companies that help commercial interests expose and 
exploit unconsious motivators of consumer behavior. The Livingston Group 
cites as one of their core services: helping expose doctors' 
psychological (as explicitly opposed to rational) reasons for 
prescribing certain drugs, and providing this information to 
pharmaceutical companies. They also work on finding effective ways for 
consumers to demand drug prescriptions from their doctors. (see their 
website)
http://tlgonline.com/ is Dr. (PhD clinical psychology) Livingston (and 
his wife)'s company.
http://progressionconsulting.com/ is Dr. (PhD organization and 
management) Strickland's.

3. What lactation consultants are being asked to do is record one hour 
interviews on "hard to find tips and questions" that are actually well 
covered elsewhere on the web (I don't think that there's ANY important 
point that either Kelly Bonyata or Cindy Curtis don't cover on their 
fabulous sites). These interviews, after approval are to be signed over 
to the site, and LCs are able to use them for their own purposes as well 
if they wish. Psy Tech, the publishing arm of the Livingston group, 
sells e-books and audio interviews on other topics, such as hamster 
care, raising alpacas, and reading body language. Seems like the 
starting point is to develop some of these on pregnancy, conception, and 
breastfeeding.

Anyway, I decided it does not feel completely ethical to me and declined 
to participate, though others might have different feelings. What do you 
all think?

BTW, I've been very, very careful to cross check and ensure that these 
are the correct individuals, not people with similar sounding names.

Catherine Watson Genna, IBCLC  NYC

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