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By Douglas Rushkoff, CNN


February 25, 2013 -- Updated 1502 GMT (2302 HKT)

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Part of complete coverage on

Opinion on the news


CEO right: Yahoo workers must show up
February 26, 2013 -- Updated 2027 GMT (0427 HKT)

Raymond Fisman says CEO Marissa Mayer may be extreme about ordering face-time at the office, but it's the right call to revive Yahoo.

Don't gut the Voting Rights Act


February 26, 2013 -- Updated 1212 GMT (2012 HKT)

Douglas Rushkoff says a loss of control over how his "likes" are used has led him to drop Facebook.

Penda Hair and Benjamin Jealous say that when he Supreme Court hears arguments on a key provision of the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965, it will be weighing the fate of free, fair elections.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Editor's note: Editor's note: Douglas Rushkoff writes a regular

Benedict a pope aware of his flaws

Douglas Rushkoff: Facebook has been very useful to him but now goes too far He says its Related Posts features misrepresents "likes" of users without their consent Facebook users have always been its workers, providing info about themselves to data miners Rushkoff: Related Posts takes too much control, causes him to break trust with followers

column for CNN.com. He is a media theorist and the author of the upcoming book "Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now." (CNN) -- I used to be able to justify using Facebook as a cost of doing business. As a writer and sometime activist who needs to promote my books and articles and occasionally rally people to one cause or another, I found Facebook fast and convenient. Though I never really used it to socialize, I figured it was OK to let other people do that, and I benefited from their behavior. I can no longer justify this arrangement. Today, I am surrendering my Facebook account, because my participation on the site is simply too inconsistent with the values I espouse in my work. In my upcoming book "Present Shock," I chronicle some of what happens when we can no longer manage our many online presences. I have always argued for engaging with technology as conscious human beings and dispensing with technologies that take that agency away. Facebook is just such a technology. It does things on our behalf when we're not even there. It actively misrepresents us to our friends, and worse misrepresents those who have befriended us to still others. To enable this dysfunctional situation -- I call it "digiphrenia" -- would be at the very least hypocritical. But to participate on Facebook as an author, in a way specifically intended to draw out the "likes" and resulting vulnerability of others, is untenable. Facebook has never been merely a social platform. Rather, it exploits our social interactions the way a Tupperware party does. Facebook does not exist to help us make friends, but to turn our network of connections, brand preferences and activities over time -- our "social graphs" -- into money for

February 26, 2013 -- Updated 1717 GMT (0117 HKT)

Sister Mary Ann Walsh says Pope Benedict acknowledged his mistakes and his humanity, and his stepping down might be his most potent message.

When U.S.A! U.S.A! chant is not patriotic


February 26, 2013 -- Updated 1621 GMT (0021 HKT)

Ruben Navarrette says instances of crowds backing white-dominated sports teams chanting U.S.A! U.S.A! at largely Latino-American teams have cropped up recently. This must stop.

Trayvon Martin did not die in vain


February 26, 2013 -- Updated 1547 GMT (2347 HKT)

Roland Martin says a year after his death, collective action have made a difference in raising awareness about Stand Your Ground laws.

Vote no and send a message to Hagel


February 26, 2013 -- Updated 1721 GMT (0121 HKT)

David Frum says Republicans should oppose Hagel's confirmation as defense secretary, but not filibuster it.

With 'Argo' win, Hollywood air kisses itself


February 26, 2013 -- Updated 1758 GMT (0158 HKT)

Douglas Rushkoff

Gene Seymour says "Life of Pi" and "Lincoln" might have dazzled, but it was Ben Affleck's flick, where Hollywood saves the day, that flattered tinsel town's best image of

others. We Facebook users have been building a treasure lode of big data that government and corporate researchers have been mining to predict and influence what we buy and for whom we vote. We have been handing over to them vast quantities of information about ourselves and our friends, loved ones and acquaintances. With this information, Facebook and the "big data" research firms purchasing their data predict still more things about us -- from our future product purchases or sexual orientation to our likelihood for civil disobedience or even terrorism. The true end users of Facebook are the marketers who want to reach and influence us. They are Facebook's paying customers; we are the product. And we are its workers. The countless hours that we -- and the young, particularly -- spend on our profiles are the unpaid labor on which Facebook justifies its stock valuation. The efforts of a few thousand employees at Facebook's Menlo Park campus pale in comparison to those of the hundreds of millions of users meticulously tweaking their pages. Corporations used to have to do research to assemble our consumer profiles; now we do it for them.
Become a fan of CNNOpinion Stay up to date on the latest opinion, analysis and conversations through social media. Join us at Facebook/CNNOpinion and follow us @CNNOpinion on Twitter. We welcome your ideas and comments.

itself.

On cuts, Washington throws a tantrum


February 25, 2013 -- Updated 1026 GMT (1826 HKT)

Alex Castellanos says parties are playing dangerous game with threat of mandatory budget cuts. Obama should lead and make government tighten its belt.

Gay Americans pay more taxes for fewer rights


February 25, 2013 -- Updated 1401 GMT (2201 HKT)

Suze Orman says our federal government should legalize same-sex marriage and end discrimination against gay couples.

'Gay lobby' behind pope's resignation? Not likely


February 23, 2013 -- Updated 2250 GMT (0650 HKT)

The information collected about you by Facebook through my Facebook page isn't even shared with me. Thanks to my page, Facebook knows the demographics of my readership, their e-mails, what else they like, who else they know and, perhaps most significant, who they trust. And Facebook is taking pains not to share any of this, going so far as to limit the ability of third-party applications to utilize any of this data. Given that this was the foundation for Facebook's business plan from the start, perhaps more recent developments in the company's ever-evolving user agreement shouldn't have been so disheartening. Still, we bridle at the notion that any of our updates might be

Of all the controversies that have dogged the pope, a "gay lobby" hardly seems a likely cause for his quitting, says John L. Allen Jr.

If spending is cut, GOP will get the blame


February 26, 2013 -- Updated 1614 GMT (0014 HKT)

Republicans will find out that basing their core message on deficit reduction is risky when painful cuts in spending start to bite, says Julian Zelizer.

Why I'm quitting Facebook


February 25, 2013 -- Updated 1502 GMT (2302 HKT)

converted into "sponsored stories" by whatever business or brand we may have mentioned. That innocent mention of cup of coffee at Starbucks, in the Facebook universe, quickly becomes an attributed endorsement of their brand. Remember, the only way to connect with something or someone is to "like" them. This means if you want to find out what a politician or company you don't like is up to, you still have to endorse them publicly. More recently, users -- particularly those with larger sets of friends, followers and likes -- learned that their updates were no longer reaching all of the people who had signed up to get them. Now, we are supposed to pay to "promote" our posts to our friends and, if we pay even more, to their friends. Yes, Facebook is entitled to be paid for promoting us and our interests -- but this wasn't the deal going in, particularly not for companies who paid Facebook for extra followers in the first place. Neither should users who "friend" my page automatically become the passive conduits for any of my messages to all their friends just because I paid for it. That brings me to Facebook's most recent shift, and the one that pushed me over the edge. Through a new variation of the Sponsored Stories feature called Related Posts, users who "like" something can be unwittingly associated with pretty much anything an advertiser pays for. Like e-mail spam with a spoofed identity, the Related Post shows up in a newsfeed right under the user's name and picture. If you like me, you can be shown implicitly recommending me or something I like -- something you've never heard of -- to others without your consent. For now, as long as I don't like anything myself, I have some measure of control over what those who follow me receive in my

Douglas Rushkoff says the social networking site used to be useful to him, but has lost his trust with a feature that misrepresents his "likes" without his consent.

Media walk tricky line on same-sex marriage


February 25, 2013 -- Updated 1225 GMT (2025 HKT)

Howard Kurtz says the press has had a role in advancing same-sex marriage, simply by covering the issue. It must be careful not to slip into advocacy or bias.

Mark Kelly: Gun loophole makes no sense


February 22, 2013 -- Updated 2047 GMT (0447 HKT)

The retired astronaut and husband of Gabrielle Giffords says the millions who have failed gun background checks can buy guns at gun shows or online.

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name or, worse, are made to appear to be endorsing, themselves. But I feel that control slipping away, and cannot remain part of a system where liking me or my work can be used against you. The promotional leverage that Facebook affords me is not worth the price. Besides, how can I ask you to like me, when I myself must refuse to like you or anything else? I have always appreciated that agreeing to become publicly linked to me and my work online involves trust. It is a trust I value, but -- as it is dependent on the good graces of Facebook -- it is a trust I can live up to only by unfriending this particularly anti-social social network. Maybe in doing so I'll help people remember that Facebook is not the Internet. It's just one website, and it comes with a price. Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion. Join us on Facebook/CNNOpinion.

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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Douglas Rushkoff.

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Clark

2 days ago

Good for him. Doesn't anyone get tired of seeing people walking around staring at their i-phones, i-pods, etc?
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PeakSeason11

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Clark a day ago

I remember when I quit Facebook and I had two co-workers come up to me a week later, visibly upset, and ask me why I removed them from Friends. They both thought that I was mad at them in real life, which I found hilarious. When an online social network can alter your mood towards someone, I think it's time to take a step back and get back into the real world. There are other options outside of Facebook to keep in touch with people, but I'm starting to believe some people don't understand that. I've literally had people STOP talking to me because I quit Facebook, and they all know how to contact me via phone or text.
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PeakSeason11 a day ago

I had family members that wouldn't correspond with me in ANY manner except Facebook. I haven't heard from some of them in over a year. A consequence is that they have all been put on notice that I have no intentions of ever contacting them again...This Facebook thing is completely out of control. We have become a country of severely dumbed down people, devoid of critical thought, self identity and general awareness as to what is really going on around them and being done to them.
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