From consumer to prosumer: legal liabilities of informers

Abstract

The emerging web 2.0 context is characterized, among other circumstances, by the increasing relative importance of the internet users. These ones have additionally changed from being mere consumers of contents to real producers, i.e. prosumers. Social networks are a particularly suitable environment for the arising of new communication modalities and possibilities. This report focuses on the phenomenon of informers, a kind of anonymous platforms that emerged in early 2013 in Spain, initially supported by the social network Facebook. The report examines their origins and explanatory causes, and also the potential legal liabilities that could reach their administrators, content generators or participants through the I like button or additional comments, taking into account the current both national and international legislation.