A few months ago I wrote a column about an immensely popular Web site that is luring millions of teens and adolescents into cyberspace.

The response from parents throughout this community was huge. They flocked to their computers to see if their teen was among those who had posted titillating photos of themselves on the site along with personal information such as phone numbers, addresses and hobbies.

The concern, then and now, is of the dangerous position these kids are putting themselves in by opening up their lives to an untold number of sexual predators who may be trolling through the vast Web for potential victims.

But a situation last month at Messalonskee High School in Oakland showcased another horrifying and dreadful side of this and other Internet chat sites – the pervasive problem of bullying.

A 16-year-old special-education student at the school didn’t fall victim to a lurking pedophile. He was victimized, in a very devastating way, by his own classmates.

Unkind classmates armed with a cell phone took digital photos of the boy in some humiliating situations and then posted those pictures and a host of derogatory and embarrassing remarks on an Internet site.

Yes, mean-spirited kids, armed with the latest gadgets, have launched bullying into cyberspace.

At Brewer High School cyber-bullying has sparked a heated discussion about the rights of free speech.

Some of the Brewer kids who hang out on Myspace.com – there are more than 200 of them – are up in arms because their principal has taken up a spot of his own on the site. The messages they send him make it clear that they don’t think he has any business in their domain.

The language they choose to make their point is colorful at best.

Principal Brad Fox doesn’t contact the kids. He just awaits the messages and looks around at their “profiles.”

What he’s found and shared with Brewer Superintendent Dan Lee has shocked both men.

“They are so angry that he is on there, but what they don’t realize is this is a public site. Anyone can be on there, yet they treat it like it’s their own and that they are not sharing their information with the rest of the world when they post items,” Lee said.

Lee has found that certain students have been targeted and hateful remarks posted about them on various profile sites. He fears for those kids.

Being bullied has devastating effects on kids. We’ve known that for years. A rash of school shootings in Colorado and elsewhere across the country sparked new debates on bullying. It breeds sadness, depression and hopelessness among the bullying victims, but it also breeds deep-seated anger and resentment. That’s equally concerning.

Some Brewer kids have taken such exception to the principal’s concern over the Myspace Web site that they are wearing T-shirts with “free speech” written on the front.

They insist they can say whatever they want on the Internet about anyone they choose.

Lee is preparing to introduce them to Bill Harnett.

Harnett is a lawyer specializing in civil rights law at the Attorney General’s Office.

He’s going to give Brewer High School kids a lesson on hate crimes and hate speech and the very real penalties involved.

Harnett has had plenty of complaints about threats and harassment occurring on Myspace and he’s exploring the various ways that the state’s legal system can start taking action.

Lee is approaching this problem the right way. Free speech protects a lot. I’m very thankful for it every time I file a story for this newspaper.

But it doesn’t put anyone above the law, including laws that protect others from harassment, criminal threatening or hate crimes.

Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of the whole Myspace debate is the vast number of parents who continue to tune it out.

Many parents perhaps don’t feel they have the computer savvy to check out what their own kids are doing on the Internet. My advice: Learn.

Kids on Myspace talk freely about their sex lives and drug and alcohol use. They use filthy language to describe themselves and sometimes their parents and teachers.

The Internet is a complicated place, but parents must find a way to get in the door and look around.

If you don’t know how to use a computer, then find someone who does and ask for their help.

There is plenty of software available that will monitor all of your child’s activities on the Internet, including chat-room conversations.

It could be your kid being bullied, or equally devastating perhaps, doing the bullying.

Parents should be taking action before the Attorney General’s Office does.