This is either the daftest or scariest idea that's yet been formulated to try and protect newspaper revenues.
It's daft because the Web is links. Take away the connections and you no longer have a network.
But that's a scary prospect; if the newspaper industry succeeds in lobbying for this kind of legislation, the idea of an open Web is under threat.
It's an idea that chimes nicely with some of the national security havers that we hear from governments too: if the legislation is to be enforced then the use of the Web has to be restricted and monitored.
Throw in the rise of the cloud and you could have the ingredients for a fundamental challenge to the way the Web has developed until now.