From the Jim Fowler (Jigsaw CEO) - Deborah Pierce (privacy activist) debate.

Fowler: 50,000 recruiters are on Jigsaw. It’s 20% of Jigsaw’s audience, but 40% of the action on Jigsaw. “We love recruiters on Jigsaw.”

Pierce: Reads a list of fair information practices, including such things as “people should be able to know if they’re in a particular database,” as well as “choice” — meaning the ability to opt in or opt out.

Pierce: Describes how people may not even know that their contact info is in Jigsaw. Even if they found out and surpressed it, she says that Jigsaw’s information could be found if there’s a breach of some sort.

Fowler: We don’t touch “non-business information.” Says that this is a ethical issue, not a legal issue. Jigsaw members must comply with the law, but after that, ethicists must draw further lines. Plus, he says, the more transparent a society is, the better off it tends to be.

Fowler: Fewer than 500 people have asked to be removed. Says that online other databases, it’s easy to figure out if you’re on Jigsaw. Old-school databases like Harte-Hanks, he says, are a different story. The “march down the path to transparency is unstoppable,” he says. Says MySpace is more dangerous and people contacting via Jigsaw are usually seeking more innocent aims, such as an employee.

Pierce: Says that business information alone can be used to commit identify theft. Says 163 million records were lost this year, and Jigsaw’s credit-card and other information could get breached. Says 4.2 million credit card numbers were recently stolen from a grocery company.

Lou Adler: Says credit-card information isn’t related.

Pierce: “People still end up becoming identity theft victims.”

Fowler: “There’s no legality here.” Says you don’t have to have a credit card to be removed from the database. All you have to do is email privacy@jigsaw.com and confirm who you are, and you get surpressed.

Pierce: “That’s a pretty aggressive move” — Jigsaw’s goal of mapping all the organizations on the planet. … and many people have never heard of the site.

Fowler: Believes that 2-3% of the world really cares about privacy when it comes to their business card. “Most people don’t care about this particular piece of data,” he says. Says if data businesses were outlawed people couldn’t do business. “Data is one of the critical parts … that makes our society run.”

Pierce: Fair information practices aren’t laws.

Pierce: She didn’t ask to be in Jigsaw. Doesn’t expect when handing out a business card that it’ll end up in a database. She has chosen what information she wants on a social network. She hasn’t chosen to have all of her business card info on Jigsaw.

Gerry Crispin: What if a recruiter sends in information from resumes they’re collecting, as opposed to business cards?

Fowler: You could get blacklisted for certain practices. Says that Jigsaw is a data company. Why not ask the same questions of “the dinosaurs” — the old-school companies that have been doing this for years.

Dennis Smith, moderator: Says recruiters often ask permission before distributing contact information on Jigsaw.

Fowler: Says the real ethical issue is whether it’s ethical to “out” your clients and friends on Jigsaw. All user-generated content sites have similar issues … 1% do the work, and 99% watch. Top 10 Jigsaw users have added a lot of the data. They don’t know all the people personally — they get the data from “500,000 different ways” — such as a restaurant fishbowl or something. Says he’s not arguing that it’s right or wrong to “out” a friend. He’s arguing that most data is not “outs.”

Fowler: “You’ve still outed somebody” — whether it’s a friend or someone you don’t know. “I think that’s wrong.”