You should look into the history of the post office. It didn't revolutionize much. There have been competing businesses throughout history and a few of them were shut down by the government after out competing USPS.
I posit that without the USPS, near-universal delivery (at rather uniform prices) from private providers would likely not exist.
In France, doing that would require that you log the connections (who connects when with which IP) for a year, but the "who" part can be a mere MAC address. You also have to declare yourself as an ISP.
If you happen to share your own IP, then it's different. In France as well, you can be considered responsible.
It is rather difficult to hold an ISPs accountable for its users, unlike content providers. The first is akin to snail mail, while the second it akin to journals. No one ever sued FedEx for mailing Anthrax or hate pamphlets. But the one who sent those? You bet he's accountable!
I agree with you, by the way. Just pointing out that a legislation that forces ISPs to filter the net is a Major Screw-up that should flag its country as an active Enemy of the Internet. I have hope (though I wouldn't count on it) that they won't put a Great Firewall of China.