A per-gigabyte internet tax just squeaked through France's lower house

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WTF?! These days, moving a gigabyte of data across the internet usually costs companies well under a cent. France, however, wants them to pay several times that just in tax. Lawmakers there narrowly voted on Friday to charge content providers 5.5 cents for every gigabyte they send to French users – though the measure still has a long way to go before it becomes law.

Socialist deputy Laurent Lhardit's amendment passed the National Assembly by just 11 votes to 10. In fact, only 35 of the chamber's 577 deputies were even in the room at the time. Both the government and the budget's own rapporteur had advised against it, too.

If it survives, subscribers wouldn't be billed directly. Instead, ISPs like Orange, SFR, Bouygues Telecom and Free would tally how much data reaches...

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