Decisive Investor's website claims are flat out unethical and reporting them to the SEC would likely result in them being dropped.

Your father-in-law had a return of 13% over the last 8 years while the S&P 500 return with dividends reinvested was 14.8% over that same period. That means that your father-in-law paid decisive investor significant money and did worse than the index - ouch!

I have seen your claim that critics "(know) nothing of the program" but since I am actually a professional in this field, forgive me for assuming that it is actually you who doesn't understand what is going on :).

What you described about ETFs is nothing special. Often programs like that include a derivative component that makes the investment semi-price neutral. If Decisive Investor is really about trading on volatility then they would require the derivative component. Since you are admittedly not a professional, it is possible that your description was incomplete in some key ways - no shame in that. Regardless, the risk component takes a different form than a straight equity investment but is very much still present. You are deluding yourself if you think your positions are less risky than anything in the normal market.