[First they came for the Jews] People who download copyright-protected films and music would have their Internet connection cut off under proposed laws.

The Treasury Minister said previous plans, which would only have restricted users' broadband speed, did not go far enough. That potential punishment remains under the new proposal, but is accompanied by the possibility of blocking offenders' access to download sites as well as banning them from the Internet altogether.

Civil-rights groups and Internet service providers criticized the proposal as unnecessarily restricting users' rights without doing much to tackle online piracy.