The IT industry has resisted calls from Hollywood and other content providers to do more to fight digital piracy.

Microsoft's Steve Ballmer and Intel's Craig Barrett wrote an open letter to studio chiefs this week saying that the measures Hollywood is asking for would threaten the vitality of peer-to-peer file swapping.

The technology firms see file swapping technology as a core net activity, and argue that Hollywood needs to keep its own house in order. Before the industry will sit down with content providers, it is asking for movement from them on "consumer education" and enforcement of existing legislation.

"Technology is an important part of the piracy solution," says the letter, "but it is not the only solution."

The US government is keen for content and technology firms to cooperate on making digital piracy harder. In March, a bill entered the senate aimed at obliging technology companies to incorporate "digital rights management" - built-in anti-piracy measures - in all their products. Unsurprisingly, technology companies oppose the idea, while Disney supports it wholeheartedly.

At a round-table discussion on Wednesday at the US department of commerce, protesters from "fair use" groups such as New Yorkers for Fair Use protested to Jack Valenti, the head of the Motion Picture Association of America, who is a leading proponent of the scheme, wearing badges saying "DRM [digital rights management] is theft".

The latest letter is part of the ongoing struggle between the content producers - Hollywood and the music industry - and the technology industry, and demonstrates that the two sides are not coming any closer to agreement on the way forward.

While there is common ground, it appears that the vested interests of the parties are in direct conflict as long as net usage is influenced so heavily by file-swapping. The letter to studio chiefs puts it bluntly, saying file swapping "is critical to further advances in our economy".