Social networks and web 2.0: are users also bound by data protection regulations?

Directive 95/46/EC and implementing legislation define the respective obligations and liabilities of the different actors that may be involved in a personal data processing operation. There are certain exceptions to the scope of these regulations, among which processing which is carried out by natural persons in the course of activities that may be considered ‘purely personal’. The purpose of this article is to investigate the liability of users of social network sites under data protection and to assess the extent to which the current data protection framework can sufficiently accommodate the new realities of web 2.0 and social networking applications.