Pedo Bear- LE Alert information

[Майор Хаткевич]

If you have nothing useful to add to a conversation -then say it in a really big red font.

It was a response to a question. Though nothing was contributed, at the very least information was shared.

[Майор Хаткевич]

here is a news story about this release. http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1941325

[Johnny Yuma]

THIS JUST IN...

The FBI just released surveillance video of the master mind who created pedobear http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTJGkwMf08k&feature=related

It's only 30 years late

[Keydet2010]

FlyingPig & Smokey:
  Thank you so much for posting this information.  It may be "old news" to many people, but this is the first time I have ever heard of it.  I am sure there are a lot of Senior Members out there like me who work primarily with Cadets, but we are totally naive and ignorant about things of this nature.

. . .
   Please continue to disseminate any information that can help us better protect our Cadets, it is appreciated.

No offense to you, but I believe this is a dangerous mentality to have when dealing with predatory offenders such as rapists and pedophiles. With the wealth of information available to you on the internet, I believe you have an obligation to make yourself aware of the issues affecting said Cadets; in this particular case, being aware of the methods and psychology of sexual offenders. To otherwise is inexcusable in my book, as it places those Cadets in an undue amount of danger.


As for the original story, I find it laughable how far off the mark the law enforcement agencies are with this. A quick google search would have returned a dozen articles discussing the history of pedobear, such as this.

[Custer]

Pedobear has been a meme on /b/ for about 3-4 years or so. I'm surprised this is just now being released.

Pedobear was on F-chan well over a decade ago.

[raivo]

Pedobear has about as much to do with real child abuse as Carmen Sandiego does with actual larceny.

Also, out of all the Internet venues I frequent, this is the ONLY ONE where everyone's *not* laughing uproariously at the LE bulletin.

[Johnny Yuma]

The DOJ's and general LE reaction to all this is all too typical: They're the last to know, so they need to overreact to compensate.

[Nathan]

Just to state it again, no one is ridiculing the immediate reaction to the perceived threat. Nor am I, at least, bagging on LE guys who didn't immediately bite at the idea that the threat may not be a threat just cause we say so.

It's more just the people who are too worried about saving face to at least admit that they may be overreacting to something that may not actually BE a threat. I personally am a wee concerned that people who may have purchased these products may be unfairly labeled as pedophiles just because LE guys misinterpreted the significantly more vast use of the character as a joke to mock pedophiles as something else.

It's a lot like a witch hunt. There may have been a couple of people accused who actually tried practicing witchcraft, but the evidence consisted of mainly hunches, opinions, and misinterpretations. I'm not worried about legal fallout, but social fallout is a definite.

[RiverAux]

I really have a hard time deciding what to think about this (an uncommon situation for me).  My first impression that this was actually one of those crazy internet rumors or virus warnings that you get passed around in emails from some of the more unsophisticated internet users. 

But, lets say that this is a real current threat.  That being the case, from a CAP perspective I'd say that I'm not too worried about it.  Given the age of our cadets, I'm not concerned that a pedophile wearing something with one of these symbols would get very far with them.  I think most are smart enough to really wonder about a grown man wearing such a shirt and would most likely stay as far away as they could.  Maybe if our cadets were much, much younger.

Similarly, I would probably be very suspicious of a prospective male senior member wearing such a shirt with or without this warning from LE.  Thats just not normal behavior.  They would probably be informed about the background check a lot earlier in the conversation than normal. 

[Майор Хаткевич]

We have more chance of an 18 year old cadet going to jail for dating a 15 year old than we do of pedo bear pedos trying to join up.

[raivo]

There's a similar incident that comes to mind where someone started a Internet rumor on a now-defunct juvenile-delinquent-forum called TOTSE that you could get high on fermented... uh... sewage. Well, the Internet is great at spreading rumors, and next thing you know LE agencies are putting out bulletins warning parents about "the new drug craze." (Now I'm sure SOMEBODY was dumb enough to try it, especially given the intelligence level of the average TOTSE user, but...)

http://www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/jenkem.asp

But, yeah, Pedobear is one of those things you just aren't going to get unless you understand Internet culture.

[Krapenhoeffer]

Okay, so, here is Internet Memetics 101:

Suffice it to say that there is a subculture on the internet known as "Anonymous"

Anonymous is an entity that could only exist on the internet. Basically, it came from the realization that if you don't use your name, everything you do on the internet is anonymous.

The first thing that one should know about Anonymous as a whole, is that it has a very dark and ironic sense of humor. This humor is called "lulz."

Up until a few short years ago, the hub of Anonymous in the English-speaking world was an imageboard website called "4chan"

This website was made up of various boards, the most notorious of them being the Random board (sometimes called /b/ due to the URL for the board).

The rules for this particular board are "ZOMG NONE!!!1", which is internet 1337 (derived from "elite) slang for "Oh my God, none!!!"

As a result, actual pedophiles would post illegal images on this board, which the sarcastic posters of /b/ would respond with the image of Pedobear.

Pedobear came from the Japanese Futaba Channel (home of Anonymous culture in Japan), where it was called "Safety Bear."

In 2006, a sort of war broke out between Anonymous and the administrators of 4chan, due to a new policy which banned "raids" (cyber attacks carried out by Anonymous, of debatable legality) from being organized on /b/. It was in this same policy that 4chan decided to not allow illegal content to be posted.

After that, Anonymous dispersed to various other websites. Anonymous also created the "Rick Roll" meme, that I'm sure most of some of you have been the victims of, and LOLcats.

Pedobear is a means of satirizing and mocking pedophilia, at least in the minds of Anonymous.

Anonymous also like sneaking crap past the radar, and so anytime one of their memes gets mentioned in the real world, they find it hilarious (epic lulz, as they would put it).

I do not believe that the Pedobear threat is much of a threat.

[a2capt]

I fathom to guess  that .. the only real attraction with this character and all this other behavior is the character name in the first place, and for all anyone knows it only got started because it was all a gag due to the name in the first place.

An awful lot of Japanese nick/proper naming when using Western World words is done without any regard to the meaning, or perceived meaning of the word, or group of words in the first place.

[TyKButton]

Pedo-bear is simply another /b/tard's sick sense of humor at work. As a Criminal Justice Student, we talked about this in class and even the Professor was laughing about it. I would be far less worried about some guy at a comic convention wearing a pedo-bear shirt compared to a person staring at kids at a park. Pedo-bear is simply a sick joke, nothing more, nothing less.

[Flying Pig]

^ Ahh, advice from a Crim student. Out of curiosity, what is your professors background?

[davidsinn]

^ Ahh, advice from a Crim student. Out of curiosity, what is your professors background?

Have you tried googling "pedobear tshirt"? Look at how many places sell those things.

Can you honestly tell me that this is valid after seeing that? If the bad guys are using these things to identify each other(a claim I do not believe for a minute) the signal to noise ratio would be huge for them which would risk exposing themselves by mistake and for you, the LEO, trying to use it against them but wasting resources chasing false positives.

[Thom]

Even though I work with and among law enforcement (as a non-sworn individual) I have to say, sometimes they just can't seem to understand reality.

I'm going to lay it out for everyone, including our LEOs:

Saying that you should be careful of people wearing PedoBear emblems because they might be Pedophiles, is exactly as ludicrous as saying that you can expect sworn and armed backup from every person or vehicle bearing a 'Thin Blue Line' sticker.  In the exact same way that those stickers/plates which originally identified LEOs and (sometimes) their families, have become so common as to make them useless as an identifier, the PedoBear image has likewise become so widespread that any possible original use in identifying Pedophiles (if there ever was any at all...) has been lost.

I can understand the drive to 'make every effort' and 'never overlook possible clues' but really, at some point the False Positive rate makes it a losing proposition.  I would also note that this 'intelligence' came out of one Sheriff's Office, not from the FBI, CBI, or even the NCMEC (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.) I would hope we can all agree it was earnestly meant in the best way, but ultimately was incorrect intelligence.  It would hardly be the first time that was distributed in the LE community.


Thom

[TyKButton]

^ Ahh, advice from a Crim student. Out of curiosity, what is your professors background?

Well, both my professors talked about it, but the one I was referring to has 10 years experience as a LEO with a County Sherrifs Dept, and then worked with Parole and Probation in the state. He also is a Major in the National Guard. Hes a pretty cool professor I have to say

[Senior]

Flying Pig, thank you for the information about the Pedo Bear Cartoon. :clap:

I am truly amazed and bewildered when LEO are informing the public
about a potential hazard to children/cadets and those intrusted to
protect those same cadets laugh it off as a bad joke.

I have a friend that was abused as a child and I don't think that
person would laugh at this "bad joke".  I would ask those that see
this as "dark humor" to consider their own character and integrity.
Sure morons and scumbags can say and do a lot of things because
they have the freedom of speech, but is it beneficial to themselves or
society as a whole?  So maybe somebody should stand up and say
pedophiles are useless piles of crap.  No joking or humor can make
child abuse funny.

[raivo]

I am truly amazed and bewildered when LEO are informing the public
about a potential hazard to children/cadets and those intrusted to
protect those same cadets laugh it off as a bad joke.

That would be because we have some actual understanding of the subject matter, and the SLO County Sheriff's office (which is where this originated) hasn't convinced me that they do.