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Why we capitalize the "I" in the Internet.

People argue it should be a lower case "i", but their logic is faulty.

Most arguments I've seen for lower case "i" when using "the Internet" point out that we don't capitalize newspapers, television, radio and blah blah blah. There are many radios, but when we say "I saw it on the Internet" we are not referring to one of many computer internets we could possibly get on.  Just the one.

And to bolster our case, we present you with this:

Exhibit A - The Tech Encyclopedia definition for "internet";
(1) (Lower case "i"nternet) A large network made up of a number of smaller networks.

(2) (Upper case "I"nternet) The largest network in the world. It is made up of more than 350 million computers in more than 100 countries covering commercial, academic and government endeavors.

Exhibit B - Some BBC guy's commentary from when Wired declared it won't capitalize "i" in the Internet;
"The fact is that the Internet is the name of a specific collection of networks, while internet is a generic term for two or more connected networks.

The two are as distinct as planet Earth and the earth around your begonias, and they should be distinguished in print."


- The Zolved Team

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