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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_c ... onventionsInternet capitalization conventions
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Internet capitalization conventions are the practices of various publishers regarding the capitalization of "Internet" or "internet", when referring to the Internet/internet, as distinct from generic internets (or internetworks).
In formal usage, the noun for the Internet has traditionally been treated as a proper noun and written with an initial capital letter, that is, a majuscule or upper-case "I". Since the widespread deployment of the Internet Protocol Suite in the early 1980s, the Internet standards-setting bodies and other related organizations, such as the Internet Society, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the World Wide Web Consortium, use this convention in their publications. In English grammar, proper nouns are capitalized.
However, critics argue that some things that are unique yet distributed, such as "the power grid", "the telephone network", and even "the sky", are not considered proper nouns, and are thus not capitalized. Since at least 2002 it has been theorized that Internet has been changing from a proper noun to a generic term.[1] Words for new technologies, such as Phonograph in the 19th century, are sometimes capitalized at first, later becoming uncapitalized.[1] It was suggested as early as 1999 that Internet might, like some other commonly used proper nouns, lose its capital letter.[2]
Capitalization of the word as an adjective also varies.
Some guides specify that the word should be capitalized as a noun but not capitalized as an adjective, eg, "internet resources".[3][4]