Newly leaked documents reveal European proposal to revise international telecom laws to introduce a new Internet tax on companies like Google, Apple, and Facebook.

The European Telecommunications Network Operators Association (ETNO) is asking the United Nations to revise international telecommunications regulations to introduce a new Internet tax that appears to target Web giants like Google and Facebook, CNET reported this week.

ETNO reportedly floated the idea of a new tax on "high level principles" based in the U.S., presumably large Internet content providers, last December at a meeting of the UN's International Telecommunication Union (ITU). But a pair of documents (here and here) outlining the proposal were only leaked this week.

CNET noted that US officials and legislators have recently warned that something was afoot at the ITU. The ETNU proposal would "amend an existing telecommunications treaty by imposing heavy costs on popular Web sites and their network providers for the privilege of serving non-U.S. users," the tech cite reported.

Such a development would potentially "cripple" the ability of large Web companies to serve users in non-U.S. countries, particularly the poorest ones, CNET reported.

ETNO, a lobbying organization representing European telcos like Vodafone and Telecom Italia, has been calling for companies like Google and Apple that push massive amounts of data across the Internet to be forced to pay fees linked to usage, according to media reports.

While critics call the proposal troubling due to issues with access and uncertainty over how it would be enforced, ETNO told CNET the goal was to "achieve a sustainable system of fair compensation for telecommunications services."