"An internet (lowercase “i”) is any collection of separate physical networks, interconnected by a common protocol, to form a single logical network. The Internet (uppercase “I”) is the worldwide collection of interconnected networks, which grew out of the original ARPANET, that uses Internet Protocol (IP) to link the various physical networks into a single logical network. In this book, both “internet” and “Internet” refer to networks that are interconnected by TCP/IP."
I don't think I've seen an author in the past 10 years use lowercase-internet to mean interconnected networks that are not The Internet, though. I've seen it for some variants, like talking about "internetworking" or "internetworked" facilities, but it's just too confusing to refer to "an internet" when you mean 3 IBM sites networked together.
The term "intranet" is starting to become a common replacement, though; increasingly any network that is not The Internet is being described as such, even if consists of multiple internetworked physical networks. So in the IBM-sites example, I think it would be more common to talk about the "IBM intranet", even if it's global and encompasses multiple networks, than to talk about the "IBM internet".
The capital is unnecessary for two reasons. First, common parlance does not distinguish any old internet from the global one. From a descriptivist standpoint, the battle is already over. Second, we already use an article to differentiate the two uses: an internet is to a world as the internet is to the world—not the World. Same goes for a web versus the web.
What does bother me is that it’s called the World Wide Web and not the Worldwide Web.
Speaking of which, in this day and age, I find it inexcusable for example.com not to be a valid alias for www.example.com. (Are you listening old media??)
"I view it like a utility or books" isn't valid justification, it's an horrible misunderstanding that "the Internet" is the name of THIS network. Iran aims to create their own. And surely we'll have others eventually, we just haven't had serious consumer networks yet.
It's a shame that Google's trends tool doesn't allow us to compare case-sensitive terms. One could scrape through the first N results, but N would be an order of magnitude smaller than what a proper Google implementation could accomplish.
Does treating the Internet as a proper noun legitimize it relative to nation states? How about the opposite, i.e. does treating it a a regular noun delegitimize it relative to nation states?
I don't think there are very many people who would consider the internet to be something that would ever be in the same category of thing with nation states such that they could be related. 'The internet', even when used as a metaphor to refer to some collection of humans, is far less tangible and definite compared to a nation state.
For myself: I always use capital I just because there is only one Internet. That doesn't make it more legitimate, or more like a nation state, or anything else. It just highlights the uniqueness of it.
Still? Why would anyone write 'internet' with a capital 'i'? Internetisapropernout.net is just wrong: it's not a proper noun; if it were, why would we precede it with an article?
If we capitalized any noun that referred to a specific thing, every word that followed 'the' would need to be capitalized.
The internet over which I'm posting this comment simply happens not to have a name.
If you were at an institution with Internet2 connectivity, "the internet" would be ambiguous in a way "the Internet" isn't, perhaps? Anyone here part of such a group? For most of us though, it makes no difference and it wouldn't be the first time informal and formal usage have differed :)
Since Internet2 doesn't have different user-facing characteristics, I don't think most researchers distinguish, unless it's their area of research specifically. From a user perspective it just looks like another set of long-haul internet pipes, alongside both the commercial ones run by Level3/etc., and other educational networks like CalREN and NORDUnet. I don't even usually know when my data is being routed over Internet2 or some other network unless I make a point of tracerouting, and often it transparently takes some mixture of routes.
The basic question is whether or not the word "Internet" is a proper noun (i.e. a specific named entity like the "Interstate Highway System") or just a regular noun like "public highways".
[+] [-] morninj|14 years ago|reply
"An internet (lowercase “i”) is any collection of separate physical networks, interconnected by a common protocol, to form a single logical network. The Internet (uppercase “I”) is the worldwide collection of interconnected networks, which grew out of the original ARPANET, that uses Internet Protocol (IP) to link the various physical networks into a single logical network. In this book, both “internet” and “Internet” refer to networks that are interconnected by TCP/IP."
http://www.morninj.com/2012/03/internet-or-internet/
[+] [-] bithive123|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] _delirium|14 years ago|reply
The term "intranet" is starting to become a common replacement, though; increasingly any network that is not The Internet is being described as such, even if consists of multiple internetworked physical networks. So in the IBM-sites example, I think it would be more common to talk about the "IBM intranet", even if it's global and encompasses multiple networks, than to talk about the "IBM internet".
[+] [-] evincarofautumn|14 years ago|reply
What does bother me is that it’s called the World Wide Web and not the Worldwide Web.
[+] [-] pagekalisedown|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DanBC|14 years ago|reply
Analogies always fail.
An internet[1] is to a continent as the Internet is to the Earth.
I agree that this argument[2] is thoroughly lost because people rarely use the capital 'I' anymore.
[1] You have all sorts of networks, but a network doesn't become 'an internet' just because it's using TCP/IP.
[2] Perhaps argument is too strong a word.
[+] [-] jeffool|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Lexarius|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] JumpCrisscross|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] justgrimes|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] thought_alarm|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] malandrew|14 years ago|reply
Does treating the Internet as a proper noun legitimize it relative to nation states? How about the opposite, i.e. does treating it a a regular noun delegitimize it relative to nation states?
[+] [-] marshray|14 years ago|reply
I don't think there are very many people who would consider the internet to be something that would ever be in the same category of thing with nation states such that they could be related. 'The internet', even when used as a metaphor to refer to some collection of humans, is far less tangible and definite compared to a nation state.
[+] [-] DanBC|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Gormo|14 years ago|reply
If we capitalized any noun that referred to a specific thing, every word that followed 'the' would need to be capitalized.
The internet over which I'm posting this comment simply happens not to have a name.
[+] [-] ghc|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] espeed|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] petercooper|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] _delirium|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wmf|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] GiraffeNecktie|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mirceagoia|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jhaile|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] squadron|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] marshray|14 years ago|reply
"The bug in the jar is running out of air" c.f. "Don't pollute the air" (i.e., Earth's atmosphere)