CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA — Australian internet service providers are speaking out against the government’s new mandatory Web-filtering initiative, saying the measure will “cripple the internet.”Broadband ISPs Internode and iiNet called Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s plan to remove control of “inappropriate content” — including “obscenity” and malware — from users’ hands and place responsibility squarely on the shoulders of ISPs a form of pernicious censorship.

“Mandating [ISP-level malware filtering] would actually add value,” Internode Carrier Relations Manager John Lindsay told ZDNet.com.au. “But it wouldn’t be able to deliver on the government’s desire to stamp down on dissent or keep us in a high state of panic about certain things.

“We support the government’s desire to keep kids safe on the internet and certainly from any type of exploitation, but we don’t support the government crippling high-speed broadband services which they say are so essential to the development of our economy.”

Lindsay added he is “intrigued the government seems so confident that users will be happy to have their access slowed down to allow for filtering they don’t want.”

iiNet’s chief regulatory officer, Stephen Dalby, said vaguely-defined mandatory filtering would represent nothing more than “bragging rights” for federal officials who actually need to be addressing a more complex problem.

“This whole notion of taking a technological solution to what is otherwise a social issue really has some problems,” he told ZDNet.com.au. “Our only concern is that the government may push this through, raise their hands and say ‘right, we’ve done something about it. Let’s hope there’s some sincerity in looking at fixing the community problems associated with this more intently.”

Both iiNet and Internode said they will cooperate with whatever measures the government eventually settles on.

Potential filters currently are being tested by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (the Australian equivalent of the Federal Communications Commission in the U.S.). Results are expected to be reported to Communications Minister Senator Stephen Conroy by the end of June.

Australia’s federal government has pledged a one-time subsidy of AU$125.8 million to offset the ISPs’ filter-installation costs.