PRESS RELEASE

AMSTERDAM, Dec. 27, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Dot TK, the registry for .TK Internet domain names, today announced that the number of active .TK domain name registrations is larger than these of Russia (.ru) and China (.cn) combined. According to Verisign and its latest Domain Name Industry Brief, Tokelau (.tk) entered the rankings as the third largest country code top level domain registry in the third quarter of 2011.

It is expected that Dot TK becomes the largest country code top level domain by September 2012, beating both Germany (.de) and the United Kingdom (.uk) from their respective first and second place. The exponential growth of Dot TK continues because of its free domain name registration process, while all other top level domain registries require a nominal charge per year and some level of administrative bureaucracy. Furthermore, Dot TK allows internationalized domain names (IDN) - making the availability for domain names much larger.

Dot TK expects to reach the 7th million active domain name registration before the end of this year. More than 30,000 new domain names are registered every day on Dot TK's website, through hosting providers worldwide and on its Facebook fan page. Most registrants are joining Dot TK from China, Vietnam, Brazil, Turkey, India and Russia.

Safest domain extension

To prevent domain hijacking, Dot TK is the only domain name registry that requires having an active website on each domain. Domains with inactive websites or domains with viruses, malware or inappropriate content will be immediately cancelled and made available again for the general public.

In the last 12 months Dot TK has expanded its anti-abuse strategy by allowing trusted partners to electronically report any active domains that are used in spam, phishing or other abuse. Dot TK allows its partners, such as Facebook, APAC, Kaspersky Labs, Twitter and Internet Identity to connect their anti-abuse systems with Dot TK's domain name database using Dot TK's Anti-Abuse API system. This API enables .TK domain names to be blocked immediately when an electronic report is received. So far this technology and methodology have proven to be very successful.

"Our strategy for 2012 is to create one of the Internet's safest domain extensions," said Dot TK Founder and Managing Director, Joost Zuurbier. "We are proud to be the only TLD with an anti-abuse API and being able to immediately shut down a domain name that is attacked by fraudsters."

Mr. Zuurbier said Dot TK will continue to work actively to expand its network of trusted partners.

About Dot TK

Dot TK was founded in 2001 and is a joint venture between the government of Tokelau, its communication arm, Teletok, and BV Dot TK, a private organisation headquartered in the Netherlands. It is the only registry worldwide that provides free country code top level domain names. These domain names carry the .TK extension belonging to Tokelau. Dot TK has offices in Amsterdam, London and Palo Alto. In 2007 Dot TK signed a permanent license agreement with Tokelau, and contributes more than 20 per cent to the nation's GDP as well as providing free broadband connectivity.

For more information please visit http://www.dot.tk