An anti-piracy Bill in France will punish people who repeatedly download music and films illegally by cutting off their internet access for up to a year. The law would create a new state surveillance agency to monitor internet users.

Surfers engaging in illegal downloads can anticipate being outed with the help of internet service providers and music/film companies. Offenders will first receive a cease-and-desist notice by e-mail, then a registered letter. If caught again they will have their web access cut off for up to a year.

Sarkozy is keen to see the Bill pass. His pals in the industry have been urging him for some time to crackdown on illegal downloading. French First Lady Carla Bruni is also a supporter of more draconian measures.

Sarkozy said: “The Internet must not become a high-tech Far West, a lawless zone where outlaws can pillage works with abandon or, worse, trade in them in total impunity. And on whose backs? On artists’ backs.”

Consumer groups have rightly condemned the move. It's an infringement of internet freedom - yet another move by Sarkozy to curtail freedoms in the name of what he grandly describes as the "civilized internet" - which translates into an internet on the end of a short leash held by government and corporate players.

Instead of backing policing and penalties why doesn't the industry develop simple and low-cost alternatives to allow people to make purchases on the web. Industry business models haven't kept pace with rapid digital developments, and putting the screws on people is no solution.

Christian Paul, a French Socialist MP said the Bill will create "massive surveillance" of the internet and society as a whole. He added "criminalizing a whole generation" wasn't the answer and that the industry should look at their own business plans.