Recording and movie groups join Internet2

The Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America will join the Internet2 network coalition, Internet2 officials announced on Friday.

The RIAA's decision to join the coalition comes several months after it filed a lawsuit against students who allegedly used Internet2 to illegally swap music files. The lawsuit targeted 33 people at university campuses who allegedly used the high-speed network for music file-swapping.

Internet2 is a high-speed network for the Internet being developed by a coalition of the same name, which consists of researchers, universities, government and corporate members. The coalition's ambitions sparked concern in the movie and recording industries that the technology would enhance users' ability to illegally copy and distribute copyrighted material.

"Internet2 provides the MPAA and the RIAA with unique access to the research and education community, which shares their interest in developing secure leading-edge content distribution technologies," Internet2's chief executive, Douglas Van Houweling, said in a statement.

Internet2 will serve as a test site for the MPAA and the RIAA to study secure content distribution over future-generation networks, and the organisations will collaborate with select members of Internet2.

"We look forward to collaborative work with a broad spectrum of Internet2's members to develop new technologies that will enable us to produce and distribute digital content over next-generation networks in ways that protect and enhance the value of creative works," RIAA President Cary Sherman said in a statement.