Recipe for a hoax: Establish a web site announcing that you are going to bring about (or allow) some dire circumstance unless you can raise a specified amount by a given deadline. Set up a mechanism on your web site to receive donations publicly (or at least make it appear that you're receiving donations, even if you really aren't). Stand back and watch with amusement as people heap opprobrium on you for daring to consider such a terrible thing, much less crassly tying it to money.
No matter how many times the scenario plays out, people keep falling for it. Once it was supposed rabbit owners claiming they were going to kill and eat their bunnies unless their exorbitant demands for money were met by self-imposed deadlines; more recently it's been Help My Baby Live, a site on which an ostensibly expectant couple maintains they're not "financially secure enough" to raise a child and are going to opt for an abortion unless they can raise $50,000 in donations within three months.
... there are several clues that indicate the "Help My Baby Live" site is not on the level, but rather a prank to yank the collective chains of a gullible audience:The PayPal account initially used on the site to accept donations (which has since been shut down by PayPal) was tied to a Matthew Schiros, whose name shows up as the author of an anti-abortion blog entry (which has since been removed from the internet).
Interesting, to say the least. But the "evidence" tying Matt Schiros to the site is simply that he is listed as the administrative and techical support for Invisihosting, a company I think he works for, and that the site is simply using the hosting company's PayPal account.
In the Snopes.com forum for this topic, this was posted:
The source code for the page reveals an e-mail address of schiros+paypal@invisihosting.com hooked to the PayPal account. Googling on 'schiros' and 'invisihosting' links the name 'Matthew Schiros' to the e-mail address 'schiros@invisihosting.com' and that blog.
- snopes
The Democratic Underground is all over it, labeling Matt Schiros a right-winger, and indicative of pro-lifers, claiming it is the work of "wingnuts" and wondering how many "anti-choice people" they've hoodwinked, and what their "real motives" are.
On CourtTv's message boards, a user posted an e-mail exchange between him/herself and Matthew:
Matthew,
I was directed to this website http://www.helpmybabylive.com/ from a very busy bulletin board that I frequent. Well as you can tell I was appalled by the very nature of this website so I wanted to find out who in the world would make such a heinous or fraudulent website. Well naturally they were a bunch of cowards, so they went through you to get the anonymity they were wanting and that YOU are allowing. So, I decided to email you and ask you politely to remove that website. I realize that it is most likely in your interest to allow sites like this and this is how you are making money, but I think you should take into account that not everyone is going to do good with anonymous sites and that it may fall back on you. I am waiting anxiously for your reply.
Thanks so much
Here is his information incase you would like to give him a piece of your mind about the process he uses to allow others to basically do what they want and not get caught. He is an accomplice imo and should be treated as such.
Registrant:
InvisiHosting, LLC
1817 E. Oltorf
Apt 2103
Austin, Texas 78741
United States
Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (http://www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: HELPMYBABYLIVE.COM
Created on: 16-Jun-07
Expires on: 16-Jun-08
Last Updated on: 16-Jun-07
Administrative Contact:
Schiros, Matthew schiros@invisihosting.com
InvisiHosting, LLC
1817 E. Oltorf
Apt 2103
Austin, Texas 78741
United States
5124664146
Technical Contact:
Schiros, Matthew schiros@invisihosting.com
InvisiHosting, LLC
1817 E. Oltorf
Apt 2103
Austin, Texas 78741
United States
5124664146
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello,
Thanks for your email. You're not the first person to email us about this site, and you won't be the last.
InvisiHosting is about empowering the absolute freedom of speech on the Internet, unconstrained by any outside party that might want to restrict content according to their own personal preference or sense of taste.
We've got both an ethical and contractual obligation to our customers to not play censor, or content monitor, or any other such thing. If the site in question is illegal, have no doubt that we will be informed by the proper authorities and directed to remove it, but it is not our job to become the good taste police.
Think of the logical consequences of your request, that we remove their site. Would you restrict all speech only to things that you agree with, or, at the least, are not personally or morally offended by? That's the same attitude that the Muslims who rioted after the publication of the Danish cartoons took, that free speech's limit is someone else's feelings. If we are truly to be a free society, everyone must be allowed to say whatever they'd like about whatever they'd like without fear of retribution.
I understand that you don't like the site, but our position will always be that the solution to speech one disagrees with is counter-speech, not censorship. If you'd like to set up a page of your own decrying their behavior, we'd be happy to host that as well, because we believe in free speech for everyone.
I hope you'll think this over, and I appreciate your comments.
Matt Schiros
Matt Schiros, however, also is apparently not new to posting offensive websites, such as www.amiblackornot.com which allegedly (I have not visited the site) asks visitors to rate "how black" the people pictured on the site are by using racial slurs.
So, who knows? I'd still be interested in finding out the truth, whether it is Matt Schiros behind the hoax, or someone else.
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Help my baby live?
PayPal pulls out!
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