The Recording Industry Association Of America has formally ended its relationship with MediaSentry, the online monitoring service used by the trade body and who tracked the illegal sharing of music and gathered evidence for the association's many many many lawsuits against suspected sharers.
The move comes as the RIAA changes its approach to combating online piracy, rejecting excessive litigation in favour of trying to find a way to work with internet service providers on the issue, as in the UK.
That said, according to the Wall Street Journal, the RIAA has engaged a Copehagen based IT firm called DtecNet Software ApS who will assist with any future online monitoring.
Some have mused that the RIAA's break away from MediaSentry was a response to claims that the IT firm's methods were legally questionable, though the RIAA's Jonathan Lamy stressed to Digital Music News that the decision was "a simple business decision" and not related to any allegations made against their former partners.