On the day we when bloggers have "officially" become bigtime and mainstream, the Senate is crafting a bill that could lead to our untimely demise. The Record Industry Association of America, already more than a quarter century into its attempt to destroy music through draconian intellectual property laws, has now allied with Orin Hatch in an attempt to destroy all technology:The Senate Judiciary Committee will consider a bill Thursday that would hold technology companies liable for any product they make that encourages people to steal copyright materials.(...)

"We think this is a recipe for disaster for the Internet," said Markham Erickson, general counsel for NetCoalition, a public policy group that represents Internet companies like Google, Yahoo and Internet service providers. "The bill as it is currently drafted is extremely broad and not entirely clear. It would, at a minimum, undermine the Sony Betamax decision."

In the Betamax decision, the Supreme Court ruled that any technology that people use for legal purposes would be legal -- even if the device could be used for illegal purposes, like content piracy. Because of the ruling, the consumer electronics industry and Hollywood went on to develop a thriving market in home video and DVDs.

"This takes an objective standard and replaces it with a subjective one that allows a copyright holder to try and determine the intent of a company when producing a product," Erickson said. "It's not outside the realm of possibility that you would be placing the entertainment industry in charge of technological innovation if this law were passed."

In addition to its widespread impact throughout the technology sector, this law could potentially be used to sue several existing blogger platforms, including moveable type and typepad, out of existence. Don't think for a minute that large media conglomerates wouldn't at least entertain the thought of putting their new competitors, on both the right and left, out of business.

Update: Contact your Senators about this bill. It is called the Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act, and is Senate Bill 2560.