DOCUMENT: Internet

Creepy Pedobear Sneaks Into Steve Jobs’s House

Free Apple download stars notorious Internet meme

Pedobear

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Pedobear App

JULY 12--The usually vigilant gatekeepers at Apple have somehow allowed the notorious Pedobear to amble into the company's App Store.

iPod and iPad owners can now download a free app featuring Pedobear--who has been smartly rechristened “Cuddle Bear”--performing 11 separate “exotic” hip-hop dance moves. These demonstrations, the app claims, will help you hone your dancing skills, impress your friends, and allow you to “Show off at night clubs!”

But the seemingly harmless brown mammal offering instruction is actually Pedobear, the wonderfully creepy Internet meme that has become online shorthand for pedophiles, perverts, child molesters, and child porn collectors. Cuddly Pedobear turned up, unfortunately, earlier this year in a print ad for CP Distributor, a Florida computer repair firm (“CP” is the acronym for child pornography).

The “Cuddle Bear” app, created by developer Ronald Bell, first appeared in the App Store in late-June (which will likely displease Apple CEO Steve Jobs).

The app includes a banner advertisement for Catch Kuma, an online firm selling a $19.99 “super cute Pedobear Plush Hat.” The firm’s founder, Erick Ho, a 20-year-old college student, told TSG that he has sold around 2000 hats, which have proven popular in Europe and in some U.S. states, including, for some reason, North Dakota. (1 page)