Given how deeply social media is twined into contemporary political action, this makes certain types of online actions as illegal in Israel as they are in non-democratic countries.

"Simply put, the law seeks to penalize those who call for boycotting Israel, the settlements, or anyone related to the occupation. If a person, for example, calls for a boycott of academic institutions that participate in the occupation, he could be sued in civil court, and ordered to pay compensation. If a company agrees not to purchase products manufactured in the settlements, it could be barred from government contracts. If an NGO joins the global BDS call, it could be stripped of its non-profit status, and compelled to pay taxes as if it was a commercial firm."

Although boycotts may be conceived of as a tool of those outside Israel to force a change in the country's actions regarding Palestinians, it is, internally, considered a huge obstacle to freedom of speech. Given the increasing movement toward domestic protests against Palestinian policy in Israel, it seems much more likely to effect Israelis than anyone else. It is a huge wrong turn for Israel.

Belarus protestors arrested due to social media. Last week, Belorussian police arrested 200 people in the capital alone for protesting the neo-Stalinist regime. They were able to arrest so many so quickly because this protest is known as "Revolution Through Social Networks." For five weeks, organizers have arranged flash mobs via social networking sites.

Now, those same organizers are faced with the challenge of a police force watching, and sometimes shutting down, the popular sites they have been using. The police have also engaged in disinformation on sites like Twitter, a common tactic of repressive regimes who've woken up to the use of social media by political opponents. They are hoping a combination of more distributed calls for physical protests, along with "older" tech (filming police brutality and distributing it via DVD) will help continue the momentum and attract less techie dissidents to the cause.

Egypt resurrects Information Ministry. In a scene from a mummy movie, Egypt, largely controlled by the military in the wake of Mubarak's departure, has brought the notorious Information Ministry back to life. Though considered a force for change during the protests which chased the long-term president and his clique from power, the military is now regarded by many to be the primary obstacle to reform in the country. It has taken on a rigid and repressive posture it did not seem to have before. The military courts have sentenced a blogger to prison time and remanded many others for interrogation.

The Information Ministry was abolished in February. Now, the head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi has brought it back and appointed Osama Heikal, former editor-in-chief of the Al-Wafd newspaper, as its minister. Tantawi asked Heikal to "reorganize the Egyptian media and draw up a plan that addresses all the shortcomings that came from abolishing the post of minister of information."

Another blow to the possibilities of change in Egypt. Not a terminal one, but far from trivial.

U.A.E. blogger's trial to resume next week. Ahmed Mansour, a blogger who was arrested in April, went to his initial trial session on June 14. He returns next week. Mansour had created a petition calling for democratic reform in the autocratic emirates.

Tel Aviv photo by ZeHawk, Israel protest photo by Neta

In addition to the feedback changes, the other items being protested include issues with DSRs (Detailed Seller Ratings), the minimum 21-Day PayPal hold for risky sellers and risky categories, fee increases, another other policy changes. A good summary of all the issues can be found here.

On eBay, there are several ongoing discussion threads surrounding the boycott, which began today. Some sellers are saying they won't boycott because they can't lose the business, but others say they won't just boycott, they will just take their business elsewhere for good.

Boycotters continue to use social media to spread their message - the unofficial MySpace page, for example, has 738 friends as of today. New YouTube videos have appeared as well.

It's too soon to tell whether this second boycott will have any impact on eBay either, but it may come down to whether eBay can withstand the loss of these major PowerSellers, rumored to be in the hundreds. With a site as massive as eBay, it's likely that they can.

eBay is facing stiff competition, especially from Amazon who unabashedly admits it wants eBay sellers for its Sell Your Stuff service. But more interesting than the success or failure of the boycott and what it means for the online auction industry, is why this action had a more significant impact than similar eBay boycotts in the past.

USA Today theorizes that the reason this seller strike was able to work where others in the past have barely made a dent was that organizers used social media sites to quickly bring people together on the issue. Boycott organizers created a YouTube video that has been viewed over 140,000 times, and they used MySpace to spread the word about the boycott and sign people up to their cause. (A Facebook group had much less traction.)

We've seen social networking sites be used to organize protests in the past. Earlier this month a massive political protest in Colombia that attracted as many as 2 million people was organized in large part via Facebook. While the eBay boycott was far smaller, the same dynamics are at play. Social networking and social media sites let people get ideas out very quickly, and allow people organize around a common goal without much lead time.

This sort of nearly spontaneous organization is a perfect demonstration of the utility that social networking and media has the potential to provide. More than just a place for people to super poke each other and share party photos, social networking has the ability to organize people to effect change. Have you ever used social media to organize some sort of social, political, or consumer action? Let us know about it in the comments.