Fight Against Coercive Tactics Network

Fight Against Coercive Tactics Network, also known as FACTNet, co-founded by Robert Penny and Lawrence Wollersheim, is a Colorado-based organization committed to educating and facilitating communication about destructive mind control. Coercive tactics, or "coercive psychological systems", are defined on their website as "unethical mind control such as brainwashing, thought reform, destructive persuasion and coercive persuasion". While this appears to cover a massive array of issues, in practice FACTNet's primary dedication is to the exposure and disruption of cult activity.


Legal cases involving the organization and the Religious Technology Center are cited in analysis of fair use law. The book Internet and Online Law noted that "reproduction in computer format of plaintiff's entire copyrighted texts for defendants' private use and study falls well within the fair use exception." The work Cyber Rights: Defending Free Speech in the Digital Age characterized FACTNet as part of the "publishers and posters" group, when analyzing Scientology related legal cases in the chapter: "The Battle over Copyright on the Net." The author also placed Dennis Erlich and Arnie Lerma in this classification while analyzing actions taken by the Church of Scientology, which the author calls a "famously litigious organization."


The FACTNet newsletter is described in the book Project Censored Guide to Independent Media and Activism as: "the oldest and largest cult and mind control resource on the internet." The organization is also cited as a resource by Flo Conway and Jim Siegelman in the 1995 edition of their book Snapping: America's Epidemic of Sudden Personality Change. The book California by Andrea Schulte-Peevers asks readers to consult FACTNet and draw their own conclusions about whether Scientology is a "Mind-control cult, trendy fad or true religion." The St. Petersburg Times described the site as an: "Anti-cult site that focuses on Scientology and its legal battles." The Washington Post noted that the site contains "several books and thousands of pages of documents relating to Scientology." Web sites of groups followed by FACTnet are grouped on the site next to those of related watchdog organizations and critical sites. In a piece on the company Landmark Education, The Boston Globe noted that FACTnet listed the group in its database of: "cults, groups and individuals that are alleged to be using coercive persuasion mind control techniques," though the organization has a history of suing those that refer to it as a "cult."