Music industry drops effort to sue song swappers

LOS ANGELES -- The group representing the U.S. music industry says it will abandon its policy of suing people for sharing songs protected by copyright.

The Recording Industry Association of America says that now it will try to stop alleged music pirates by working with Internet service providers to cut access to frequent abusers.

The move ends a controversial program that saw the industry sue more than 30,000 people since 2003 for swapping songs online.

The recording association said Friday that its new efforts with several leading U.S. Internet service providers would provide a meaningful deterrent, so it will wind down its legal assault. The group says it will still carry out cases already filed.

The decision was first reported in The Wall Street Journal.