Centropy

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Centropy stylized ASCII art NFO header by gf.

Centropy (CTP) founded in January 1999 - currently is a warez group which specializes in the piracy of films and is self-proclaimed as the "Finest VCD/DVD Release Crew" (see adjacent picture). Touting many "0-day" and "negative day" releases, Centropy has notoriously released and pre-released numerous films. Among the most well known is their release of The Matrix Reloaded, before it was released to movie theaters in 2003 ^[1]. They primarily release DVD-Rips, Telesyncs, and Screeners.

As of 2005, Centropy is still prominent in the film-piracy scene, and is generally known for releasing very high quality versions of films a few days/weeks after their release, rather than extremely fast (but lower quality) copies. Often their releases are known as "propers" - a title given to a pirated film release that is not the first available in a given format, but is of much higher visual/aural quality than the earlier releases. This has led to the development of the phrase well-known in the piracy scene - "I'll wait for a Centropy" - meaning that the writer is not satisfied with the particular release, and will wait for a higher-quality release. Similarly, if a release is said to be "Centropy quality", it is usually considered to be of high quality.

Centropy was a target of Operation Site Down, a major raid conducted by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies on June 29, 2005. ^[2] Centropy responded to this with the inclusion of the following note in their release of Herbie: Fully Loaded: ^[3]

"Hey you stupid bitches FBI you forgot me!!! And don't think i'll make it easy on you to catch me :D"

More recently, the group has been quoted as "going internal". This means that any future releases they make will not be propagated throughout the internet, and will instead be limited to close affiliates of the group.