A row has developed between a loosely-based coalition of digital rights advocates and MEPs. One side argues that the amendments will be used to ascertain information about surfers and could be used to throw them off the net.

However, politicians say the amendments are "about improving users' rights".

"They have nothing to do with copyright enforcement. The interpretation of them is alarmist and scare-mongering and deflects from the intention which was to improve consumers' rights," said British MEP Malcolm Harbour, who worked on the new 'Telecoms Package'.

Politicans and content owners want to harmonise copyright laws across Europe, as currently each country operates on an ad-hoc basis. France is looking to implement the controversial 'three strikes' law, which would see persistent pirates barred from the web, while here in the UK Virgin Media has trialled a letter campaign to deter file-sharing.

The Foundation for a Free Internet Infrastructure (FFII) warned of a "Soviet-style" internet in which only software and services approved by governments would be allowed to run.

"Tomorrow popular software applications like Skype or even Firefox might be declared illegal in Europe if they are not certified by an administrative authority," said the FFII.

The vote on whether to approve the Telecom Package, which is a raft of laws aimed at harmonising European telecoms regulation, takes place in September.

www.ffii.org

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