Worst Places in the World to be a Blogger

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CNN) -- Bloggers in Burma, Iran and Syria work under some of the most repressive conditions in the world, facing tactics such as regulation, intimidation and even imprisonment, according to a report from the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Burma, where students sit at an Internet cafe, tops a list of the worst places to be a blogger.

The organization released a list of the "10 worst countries to be a blogger" to call attention to online oppression in connection with World Press Freedom Day, which was observed Sunday.

"Bloggers are at the vanguard of the information revolution, and their numbers are expanding rapidly," the group's executive director, Joel Simon, said in a report posted on the organization's Web site. "But governments are quickly learning how to turn technology against bloggers by censoring and filtering the Internet, restricting online access and mining personal data.

"When all else fails, the authorities simply jail a few bloggers to intimidate the rest of the online community into silence or self-censorship."

Burma -- also known as Myanmar -- is the worst place in the world to be a blogger, Simon's organization says. A military government restricts Web access and throws people into jail for posting critical material.