Apple registers new PrivacyIsImportant domain name, no website yet

Apple has bought the domain name PrivacyIsImportant.com, according to the WHOIS organization which maintains a register of all website owners. There is currently no website live at that address.

WHOIS data says that the domain was created and registered on March 4 and is owned by Apple, Inc. The details recorded include addresses and emails for the registrant plus an admin and a technical contact. These are all ascribed to Apple's corporate address at Apple Park.

Apple has not commented on any potential new website but it has repeatedly commented on issues of privacy. The company has made its stance on protecting users' privacy clear through billboards plus Tim Cook's speeches.

The new domain comes in the same month that Apple is expected to hold an event promoting its news and video services.

Domain registration can take a couple of days to propagate around the web. So, at time of writing, certain search engines are still claiming that the domain PrivacyIsImportant.com is available to buy. Similarly, they're recording that PrivacyIsImportant.co.uk has been sold but WHOIS does not record the owner.

Apple does register international versions of its websites so that there is a French apple.fr, for instance. Similarly, where there are multiple common domain extensions, Apple buys them all so that UK users can go to either apple.uk or apple.co.uk. In every case, however, users are routed through to a section of the regular US Apple site such as apple.com/uk/.

It does this so that the company only has to maintain one website and yet users can find it by entering the address they would expect in their own country. However, it also does this so that other firms cannot buy these country-specific domains.

It's possible, then, that the owner of PrivacyIsImportant.co.uk is Apple but as yet no other international versions of the site name have been registered to any company.

The new WHOIS domain registration was first spotted by MacRumors.