'Stayin Alive' through paradox : survival in the Iranian Web 2.0

Since the inception of the public use of the internet in 1995, the Islamic regime of Iran has imposed an ???Electronic curtain??? on access to the World Wide Web. In his March 20, 2012 annual Nowruz address to the Iranian people, President Obama defined this ???Electronic Curtain??? as a 21st century Iron Curtain controlling what ???citizens see and hear.??? Despite the large online/offline censorship apparatus, sanctions that cripple the development of information communication technologies and services (ICTs) and in general the living standards of the Iranian middle class (whom are the main users of the internet,) websites like the Persian social networking site Balatarin have not only survived cyber-attacks but have flourished and have created a viable, sustainable alternative for a public sphere in Iranian society. In this thesis, I will argue that websites like Balatarin have persisted because of its internal control mechanism to make content 'meaningful??? (meet the website???s community standards), functional financial and technical support by major international players (Western transnationals, NGOs and government), and the paradoxical internet regulations of the Islamic regime that stymie and support the development of the internet in Iran