Major players in the entertainment and technology industries plan to announce a measure of detente today in what are increasingly contentious battles over the best way to prevent digital piracy of music and video.
The big music-recording companies are joining two trade groups representing large computer hardware and software makers in opposing legislation that would require hardware and software to be designed to defeat piracy.
None of the three groups -- the Recording Industry Association of America, the Business Software Alliance and the Computer Systems Policy Project -- would comment on the specifics of the joint principles that are to be released at a news conference.
But sources familiar with the agreement said it is designed to try to ease the tension between the technology industry, which opposes any government mandates on how technology should be designed, and the entertainment industry, which has been seeking federal help in combating what it sees as a growing problem of consumers illegally copying and swapping digital music and video.