Communications minister Stephen Conroy has defended Australia's proposed internet filter by arguing that allowing websites to remain uncensored is a "recipe for anarchy".
In an interview with Fairfax Media, Senator Conroy said that the internet was not "special" and should be censored in the same way as books, films and newspapers.
"This argument that the internet is some mystical creation that no laws should apply to, that is a recipe for anarchy and the wild west," he said.
"I believe in a civil society and in a civil society people behave the same way in the physical world as they behave in the virtual world."
His comments come amid growing debate over the issue of online censorship, which has been fuelled by the rise in Facebook tribute page attacks both in Australia and overseas.
At least some of the vandalism — known online as "trolling" — is linked to the websites 4chan and Encyclopedia Dramatica, both of which are set to be banned under Senator Conroy's internet filter.
It is believed "trolls" sometimes use these websites as gathering points to launch attacks on Facebook tribute pages.
TROLLING
Trolling first gained notoriety in the Australian press in February after the alleged stabbing death of 12-year-old Queensland schoolboy Elliot Fletcher.
Vandals defaced his Facebook tribute page with photographs of bestiality and murder. One picture showed Elliot's head with the words "woot, I'm dead" above it.
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The attacks continued last month when trolls attacked Facebook memorial pages for dead Bundaberg girl Trinity Bates.
Since then, several more similar vandalism attacks have occurred — including on pages for NSW surfer Saxon Bird and Mudgee teenager Michelle Morrissey.
Now the US and the UK have joined calls for online social networks to strike out against troublemakers after dead teenagers in those countries were mocked in similar attacks.
NBC's TODAY show in the US featured a special segment on the trolling following the suicide of popular high school student Alex Pilkington last Sunday.
Trolls attacked her tribute page — not hosted on Facebook but by another website called Formspring — in the hours after her death.
New York police are investigating the messages, with some in her community calling for the trolls to be prosecuted.
Ms Pilkington also received harassing internet messages before her suicide, but her parents say she was in therapy about other issues for some time.
CRACKDOWN
In the wake of the Pilkington attack, Formspring changed the way messages were published. Page administrators now have the ability to decline or allow anonymous comments.
Many say this is the sort of capability Facebook should implement. The website on Tuesday sent a memo to users explaining how to fight back against the vandals.
"In light of these events, we wanted to remind you of the different options available to page administrators to help you moderate the content on your page," the memo said.
"Ban fans that are being abusive. If a fan of your page is repeatedly posting inappropriate content, you can go beyond reporting the fan by banning them from your page by following these instructions."
Users were also reminded how to remove photographs and videos posted by trolls.
The family of Charlotte Wilson, a 16-year-old British student killed in a car accident, said their complaints to Facebook had fallen on deaf ears.
"We've complained to Facebook ... these are cruel and wicked things, just sick and twisted," Charlotte's aunt Sharon Brennan was quoted in the Yorkshire Post as saying.
Trolls infiltrated Charlotte's page with photographs, including one of Jim Carrey sticking his head out of a window with the message "Your dead LOL" above it.
The same image was posted on Saxon Bird's tribute page and has been linked to 4chan.
Ninemsn gathered evidence last month that members of 4chan orchestrated attacks against Trinity Bates' tribute page.
"Help us honor and cherish the memory of Trinity Bates RIP girl," a 4chan user wrote.
Earlier, another user wrote: "You'll have to do some subtle trolling/grieving if you want to get in to the Rest in Peace Elliott Fletcher group without being banned on spot".
FILTER
4chan and Encyclopedia Dramatica — both of which contain obscene material — were included on a purported list of websites set to be banned under Australia's proposed internet filter, which was leaked online last year.
In the Fairfax interview with Senator Conroy, he said his goal with the filter was to "ensure that particularly children ... don't stumble across" child pornography, bestiality, extreme violence and pro-rape websites.
"If we know there are 355 websites today that have child pornographic images on it, should we say well we're not going to do anything about it?" he said.
He admitted that the filter would not block the spread of such material over P2P file sharing services.
The government plans to introduce legislation for the filter within weeks.