In celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the introduction of Internet domains, .ORG, The Public Interest Registry is pleased to announce that the trusted .ORG domain is now home to over 8 million registrations. With a growth of 8.4 percent in 2009, the domain has officially cemented its place as the world’s third largest generic Top Level Domain (gTLD), according to the organization’s bi-annual “Dashboard” report.

Between the first .org domain registration, mitre.org (July 1985), to the 8 millionth registration, the world experienced a revolution thanks to the Internet. In the meantime, .ORG similarly established itself as the very heart and soul of the Internet community, becoming the address of choice for a vast array of non-commercial sites, including associations, individuals, families, groups, cultural institutions, wikis and even corporate philanthropic efforts. Since the Public Interest Registry (PIR) took over the management of the .ORG domain in 2003, the organization has emerged as an outspoken leader in the Internet community, frequently advocating on behalf of users, proposing innovative policies to curb domain name abuse, and implementing technical upgrades necessary for the future growth and stability of the Internet. As a result of PIR’s efforts and enhanced standing within the Internet community, .ORG has grown from 2.7 million registrations in 2002 to over 8 million today.

“Hitting the 8 million registration mark is a testament to both .ORG’s reputation and value to the Internet,” said Alexa Raad, CEO of .ORG, The Public Interest Registry. “.ORG is managed with the community in mind, connecting users not only to valuable content but also to each other in order to leverage the power of the Internet for a higher purpose. It’s that open, community-driven aspect that has appealed to our users for the past 25 years and will continue to drive our growth in the years to come.”

Recently, .ORG further protected its 8 million registrants and pioneered a way to upgrade the Internet infrastructure by becoming the first open, unrestricted gTLD to offer full DNSSEC deployment. Starting June 3, 2010, signed registrars can plan to offer an additional security service to the customers, including the ability to thwart the increasing predominance of attacks like pharming, cache poisoning, and DNS redirection that have been used to commit fraud, distribute malware, and/or identity theft.