The problem of cyberbullying gained national attention last November when the story surfaced of a 13-year-old Missouri girl who killed herself following an Internet hoax.

The death of Megan Meier, who was allegedly tormented by a neighbor on the Web, echoed another case three years earlier in Vermont. There, a 13-year-old boy committed suicide after being bullied online by peers who spread rumors that he was gay.

Those incidents - along with an increasing number of increasing complaints from teenagers, parents and educators - are spurring an increasing number of state lawmakers across the nation to draft legislation giving schools more power to do something about bullying over the Internet.

A least seven states, including Iowa, Minnesota, New Jersey and Oregon, passed cyberbullying laws in 2007. Five more - Maryland, Missouri, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont - are considering similar legislation this year.

REACHING BEYOND THE SCHOOL

Most of the laws are confined to the use of school computers or networks. Others, such as those passed in Arkansas and Delaware, call for education officials to take action against off-campus bullying that disrupts their schools.

In New Jersey, some school districts, taking a cue from state officials, are considering policies that assert their authority outside of school. But such policies are raising concerns: both about infringing on freedom of speech and intruding further into students' private lives.

"The lines between home and school are continuing to blur with more expectations for schools to exercise authority in areas previously reserved for parents," said Max Riley, superintendent of the Randolph School District in New Jersey.

After New Jersey passed a law last year requiring schools to ban cyberbullying, the state Department of Education issued guidelines. School administrators were told they "may impose consequences" for off-campus bullying - but only when it "substantially interferes" with a school's operation.

Riley said the Randolph district had been considering a policy used in other districts that goes further than the state statute by stating school officials "will impose consequences" on certain acts of off-campus bullying. Randolph's finished policy will exclude references to off-campus behavior, Riley said.

"I am leery of going too far and trying to regulate too much of private life, even though I abhor some of the things that kids put up on the Internet about each other," Riley said.

The American Civil Liberties Union has opposed some cyberbullying laws, saying they set up school officials to trample on students' First Amendment rights. The ACLU helped block a proposal last year to expand an Oregon law to include off-campus bullying, arguing that school officials have no right to impose punishment on students for what they do away from school.

"That doesn't mean a school district can't be involved," said David Fidanque, executive director of the ACLU of Oregon. "The most important thing is to notify a parent. Most cyber-bullying outside of school involves mean, insensitive statements posted on somebody's Facebook page. There's no real threat and no real impact other than hurt feelings."

A VICTIM OF HARASSMENT

Nancy Willard, executive director of the Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use in Oregon, lobbied unsuccessfully to expand the law, saying most bullying takes place on home computers. She said Internet bullying is especially harmful because cyberbullies have such a large audience.

"The off-campus acts are far more harmful and the impact is coming to the schools," Willard said.

John Halligan of Essex Junction, Vt., said his son, Ryan, was a victim of harassment in the seventh- and eighth-grades, much of it over the Internet. Some of his son's peers spread rumors that he was gay, Halligan said, and Ryan was so tormented that he didn't want to go to school.

On Oct. 7, 2003, at the age of 13, Ryan committed suicide. Ryan suffered from depression, Halligan said, caused at least in part by a steady barrage of electronic harassment. Halligan said he doesn't blame the Internet for Ryan's death but added that it "amplified and accelerated" his son's pain.

Halligan supports a proposed cyberbullying law that would allow Vermont school officials to punish off-campus harassment that substantially interferes with a school's operations.

"The school should have the right to discipline you if you create stress on someone so that they can't learn," he said.

The bill didn't get out of committee last year. It was reintroduced this year and includes a provision for police to issue summonses and fines to cyberbullies.

Vermont state Rep. Peter Hunt, a co-sponsor of the bill, said there had been some opposition to the legislation, and that getting the police involved in off-campus bullying might make it more acceptable.

"By involving the police, we'll have a partner to take care of the outside piece," he said.

FIRST AMENDMENT CONCERNS

Megan Meier's suicide in Missouri prompted Gov. Matt Blunt to create an Internet Harassment Task Force. Last month the task force proposed making it a crime to harass someone over the Internet. It also called on state education officials to create computer ethics classes.

New cyberbullying laws could lead to freedom-of-speech challenges, according to Vito Gagliardi, a New Jersey attorney who represents school districts.

"Someone might say it's my opinion so-and-so is a nerd and the First Amendment allows me to say that," Gagliardi said. "There's not a large body of case law that addresses that issue."