No one likes an unregulated Internet more than I. If there’s any regulation I’m in favor of in cyberspace, it’s in the case of net neutrality. We may need laws to keep a level playing field to prevent commercial interests from creating pay-to-play scenarios.

But the recent case of the cyber-bullying mom, Lori Drew, has pointed out weaknesses in the laws that govern online behavior. Last week, using federal anti-hacking statutes, prosecutors indicted Drew in the tragic case of Megan Meier, the Missouri 13-year-old that hanged herself in late 2006.

The indictment was filed in the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles because MySpace, the social-networking site where the cyber-bullying allegedly took place, has its servers located there.

Many of you might remember that Drew, 49, to get even with Megan Meier for alleged slights to Drew’s own 13-year-old daughter, set up a MySpace account in the name of a fictitious 16-year-old boy named Josh and then proceeded to make romantic overtures to Meier, only to cut them off suddenly four weeks later with the callous statement that “the world would be a better place without you.”

The distraught teenager, many believe, reacted by hanging herself.

The problem for those seeking justice has been the lack of laws governing online bullying or sexual harassment. Most successful prosecutions of online behavior have dealt with sexual predation.

Lacking state means of going forward, federal prosecutors turned to a rather novel use of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act to allege that “Drew and co-conspirators knowingly and agreed with each other to intentionally access a computer used in interstate and foreign commerce without authorization and in excess of authorized access, and by means of an interstate communication, obtain information from that computer to further a tortious act, namely, intentional infliction of emotion distress.”

Drew and others were violating MySpace’s terms of service, which explicitly ban fraudulent registration information or the use of an account to obtain information about juvenile members.

Lori Drew and her co-conspirators have denied all allegations. If convicted, Drew could be sentenced to as many as 20 years.

There is no question that the charges are welcome against Drew, who had escaped any consequences for what has been alleged. The absence of laws on the state level that pertained to Drew’s actions led federal prosecutors to this unique application of fraud and abuse statutes in order to bring Drew to justice.

Several experts in the field of law express doubt that the charges will lead to successful convictions, which moves us to the central question: What should states do to close this gap in laws governing behavior in cyberspace?

The state of Missouri has reacted by quickly passing a law, just this past Friday, making cyber-harassment illegal. Governor Matt Blunt is ready to sign the bill.

Although I have considered some of the attempts to regulated free speech on the Internet as wildly overblown — and most courts weighing in on new laws governing speech have agreed — I strongly support any properly focused attempt to put laws in place that protect citizens of all ages, especially children, from any form of harassment on the Internet.

And, from what I know about the Missouri case, I wish federal prosecutors luck in proving their case against Lori Drew.

Calvin Ross is an American Canyon author. E-mail him at calross@napanet.net. His Web page is napanet.net/~calross/