As this is written, San Diego police have begun investigating a chilling post on Craigslist, the online classified-ad service, that offered a free baby, "batteries not included," to a good home.

Accompanying a photograph of a baby, the ad read:

Free baby boy to good home. My ex-girlfriend had him a few weeks ago, but now he just sits in my closet and cries. I'm not too sure how to deal with it, and I'm in a pretty low financial spot. I lost all the baby accessories. Batteries not included. Transaction final. No returns. Guaranteed not DOA.

It could be a hoax, of course. But it might not be, and Craigslist's first response to the ad was to take it down, not to give police the information it needed to track down the baby's father, if indeed he is a father. It may yet do that, but every second's delay puts a child who "sits in a closet" in peril. Craigslist's official position, based on its website, is that it will not release nonpublic information about posts without a subpoena or search warrant per federal law. Well, this is the time to make an exception, and then change the policy to state that Craigslist will immediately and voluntarily report to authorities any individual who tries to give away babies, hawk nuclear weapons, peddle Ecstasy, fence stolen property, sell bodies for human consumption, or auction off sex-slaves.

Maintaining confidentiality is often a fine and ethical thing, but not when a child's life is at stake. This tale may yet have a happy ending. But Craigslist already missed its first and most important opportunity to do the right thing when it didn't take the initiative and give every bit of information it had to authorities so they could track down the baby if there is one, and if there isn't, give a very irresponsible web prankster the scare of his life.