Setting the limits to penal responsibility in the bosom of the Internet is nowadays an issue of great interest in the binomial Criminal Law-New Technologies. The uncertainty created by the expansion of the Internet is equally reflected on the role played by all the operators of the Net. However, the present development of the information society requires a precise, clear set of rules for data exchange, in general terms, and for data flow; such rules must also take into account the Internet special architecture, since it determines the relationships between all the participants in the communication, the possible positions of power of each one of them, the control capacities, etc. The framework of action must be precise, as must be the limits to the operators' action, not only as a guarantee for consumers in commercial operations, but also more generally, for all the legal assets which may clash and for the effective functioning of the communication system itself. The 2000/31/CE guideline of E-commerce provides reflection parameters to determine the scope of penal responsibility which, as a general rule, may be demanded to the Internet operators and intermediaries and those areas lying beyond the scope of penal jurisdiction, depending on the dogmatic principles characteristic of the discipline.

penal responsibility, Internet, Criminal Law, new technologies