Ron Bowes, the compiler of a downloadable list of publically available profile addresses, has gained attention from privacy advocates in spite his claim that his tool is similar to a telephone directory. The list takes all searchable URLs available on Facebook and makes them available for download by the public in list format.

In an interview with BBC News, Bowes' explains that his list grew from work on security tools designed to guess username and password combinations in order to test password policies. He says that he started out planning to "collect a good list of human names that could be used for these tests." As a developer with NMAP Security Scanner, his strategy in creating the list was to download the Facebook data and combine users' first initials and surnames to determine the most likely usernames. These most common names proved to be skhan, jsmith and ssmith.

The idea behind the original list was to test security measures by combining the names with the most common passwords as a criminal might do.

"Once I had the data, though, I realized that it could be of interest to the community if I released it, so I did," he said. Bowes defended his actions to the BBC, stating that "All I've done is compile public information into a nice format for statistical analysis." It is now downloadable on the internet.

The harvested data, already publically available, would still be public even if users changed their privacy settings on Facebook to remove themselves from the site's directory.

However, Simon Davis, from the watchdog group Privacy International, said that he considers it an "ethical attack" that did not include more personal data. However, he also stated the need for Facebook to guard users' privacy before a most sinister occurance. "This is a reputational and business issue for Facebook, for now," he said.

Facebook confirmed the fact that the data in the list was already publically available online. A Facebook user asserted to BBC News that this list demonstrated "why people need to read the privacy agreements and everything they click through."

Bowes considers his act as not just a harmless showcasing of an issue that might lead to misuse if adopted by criminals. He also said that it demonstrated the heightened possibilities of data mining in the digital era.

Bowes sees the power of the digitally compiled and searchable list as a departure from the abilities of compilation of paper media in its size and potential usefulness.

He says that while the information of one or one hundred users might not be meaningful, "When you start scaling to 170 million, statistical data emerges that we have never seen in the past."