Worst Countries to Blog

Let’s take a stroll through a Burmese Internet café. Rows of tech-savvy young people chat away online, send Facebook messages, and surf the Internet.

But they aren’t free to read and write anything they like. Internet café owners are required to take regular screen shots and turn them over to Burma’s military-run government. Anyone who dares to browse, and much less blog on one of Burma’s “illegal” websites could face decades of jail time. In 2007 the Burmese government shut down the Internet altogether.

But Burma is not alone in its Internet crackdown. More than 20 Chinese bloggers are now in prison, and Iran is considering legislation that would make blogging about corruption or prostitution a crime punishable by death.

The Committee to Protect Journalists recently released its list of the ten worst countries in which to blog. Nations in Asia and the Middle East are at the top of the list. Joel Simon is the executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, and joins us on the line from New York.

The Committee to Protect Journalists: 10 Worst Countries to be a Blogger

(Photo by Marc oh! via Flickr/Creative Commons)