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Hilary Rosen, chief executive officer of the Recording Industry Association of America, will step down from her post by the end of this year, the organization says.

Rosen is leaving to spend more time with her family, the RIAA said in a statement. She became CEO in 1998 and has spent 17 years overall with the RIAA, the recording industry's lobbying group.

Rosen will work with Cary Sherman, the RIAA's president, to search for a successor, the statement said.

Lobbying Effort

The RIAA represents music labels such as BMG Entertainment, EMI Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Warner Brothers Records.

Amid sagging music sales, the RIAA has waged a legislative and legal antipiracy battle against online file-sharing programs and music pirates who illegally distribute copyrighted material. Rosen played a key role in the RIAA legal battle that ultimately led to the shutdown of the Napster file-sharing service last year.

The RIAA has also taken Internet service providers to court, asking them to release information about Internet users whom the RIAA accused of illegally downloading copyrighted material.

Recent Victories

Rosen's resignation comes just one day after a federal judge told Verizon Internet Services to hand over to the recording industry the name of an Internet user who downloaded more than 600 songs in a single day.

The ruling was generally considered a victory for the recording industry in its crusade to prevent copyright infringement.

Under the supervision of Rosen, the RIAA has also been working with the high-tech industry to develop technology that helps prevent the distribution of copyrighted material. The RIAA recently announced an agreement with two technology trade groups, the Business Software Alliance and the Computer Systems Policy Project. The trade groups have declared joint policy procedures to combat piracy, and plan to work together on related issues.

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