A U.S. government task force is preparing legislation that would allow the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to intercept online communications and penalize web companies which do not comply, the Washington Post reported on Monday.

The report claimed that the FBI wants to tap the online activities of terrorists and other criminals.

"The importance to us is pretty clear," Andrew Weissmann, the FBI's general counsel, was quoted as saying at an American Bar Association discussion on legal challenges posed by new technologies last month. "We don't have the ability to go to court and say, 'We need a court order to effectuate the intercept.'"

Weissmann said that the issue is the bureau's top legislative priority this year, but he provided no details about the proposal.

Under the draft proposal, a court could levy a series of escalating fines, starting at tens of thousands of dollars, on web firms that fail to cooperate with the FBI, anonymous sources told the Washington Post.

A company that does not comply with an order within a certain period, according to the sources, would face an automatic judicial inquiry, which could lead to fines. After 90 days, fines that remain unpaid would double daily.

If passed in Congress and signed by President Barack Obama, the bill could become a provision of the 1968 Wiretap Act, which governs the use of wiretaps in electronic surveillance of criminal suspects.