[ih] 'Internet' vs 'internet'

[Miles Fidelman]

I remember those conversations too.

+1


On 9/29/18 12:30 PM, Alan Maitland wrote:
> +1
>
> On 9/29/2018 8:12 AM, Noel Chiappa wrote:
>> Dear Science News editors:
>>
>> I was extremely saddened to see, in the latest issue of 'Science News', that
>> you all have apparently succumbed to the fashion of using 'internet' to refer
>> to the Internet. While I expect to see this sort of error in general
>> publications, it's most unfortunate to see a magazine focused on technical
>> matters make the same mistake.
>>
>> Let me explain.
>>
>> An 'internet' is a generally, and widely, accepted technical term for a
>> collection of disparate physical networks (fiber optic links, wireless
>> network, Ethernets, etc) connected together with a particular type of packet
>> switch, called 'routers'. (There are other kinds of packet switch, but they
>> have mostly fallen into desuetude now.)
>>
>> The 'Internet' is the massive internet to which most people of the world now
>> have access. (See how that sentence doesn't make sense without distinguishing
>> one with the capital?)
>>
>> There are, however, still many other internets, which are not connected to the
>> Internet. (Google "air gap" if you aren't aware of this - and again, the
>> different spelling is crucial to the sentenced being comprehensible.)
>>
>> The people who invented internets, and the Internet, carefully chose to use
>> the capital precisely to distinguish between the two. (I recall the
>> discussion.) The Internet Engineering Task Force, the body responsible for the
>> technical specifications for internets and the Internet, continues to use that
>> distinction.
>>
>> Just as there are many 'white houses', but only one 'White House', there is an
>> important distinction between 'internet(s)' and the 'Internet'.
>>
>> So I hope you will update your editorial guidlines to note that the term for
>> _the_ Internet is spelled with a capital.
>>
>>         Noel
>> _______
>> internet-history mailing list
>> internet-history at postel.org
>> http://mailman.postel.org/mailman/listinfo/internet-history
>> Contact list-owner at postel.org for assistance.
>>
>>
> _______
> internet-history mailing list
> internet-history at postel.org
> http://mailman.postel.org/mailman/listinfo/internet-history
> Contact list-owner at postel.org for assistance.

-- 
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.
In practice, there is.  .... Yogi Berra