"internet" and "Internet"

[Daruma]

Hello.

BBC NEWS | UK | Small town 'online crime hotspot'
Shildon in County Durham has been labelled an internet crime hotspot with a higher percentage of fraudulent purchases than anywhere else in the UK.

Is it okay to replace internet with "Internet"?

Thank you.

[I'm With Stupid]

Yes, although increasingly "Internet" seems to be being replaced by "internet" as this article shows.

Not a teacher.

[konungursvia]

Yes, it was originally meant as a proper noun: Internet.

[BobK]

Yes, it was originally meant as a proper noun: Internet.

- but here it's an adjective. Indeed, there are people (and house styles that require it, I think) who would write that 'internet crime is crime carried out over the Internet'.

b

[PROESL]

Hello.

BBC NEWS | UK | Small town 'online crime hotspot'
Shildon in County Durham has been labelled an internet crime hotspot with a higher percentage of fraudulent purchases than anywhere else in the UK.

Is it okay to replace internet with "Internet"?

Thank you.

Yes, it is okay, and it is correct.

The term (or name?) "Internet" is capitalized. However, I would give this some consideration:

Is it really logical, practical, and necessary to raise what we call "Internet" to proper name status? The internet is a world unto to itself. Notice that we do not capitize world. We do, however, capitalize the names of planets (other worlds?). There is only one internet, and there is only one world - a world for all humans and animals - that we humans know about as of now. There is more than one ocean, so we capitalize "Atlantic Ocean" and "Pacific Ocean", as these are names of specific oceans. Once again, there is only one internet that we know of, just as there is only one world that we know of.

the world - no capital
the universe - no capital
the galaxy - no capital
the solar system - no capital - often Solar System - but not always - often Internet - but not always?
the internet - Given the above pattern, I can't see the logic in capitalizing "internet - Internet".

the ocean - when people thought the world was flat
the sea - ditto
the land -
The Great Plains - specific land - a title
The Internet - specific internet? A unique place among other places in cyberspace? I don't think so.

Question things. Don't just say "well everyone else does it and it's "written in the dictionary, so I guess I have to do it". That doesn't work for me. I'll capitalize Internet, as I would hate to offend the better senses of style guide writers and editors. To conclude, I would say that the idea that Internet should be capitalized is debatable and open to discussion.

[PROESL]

There are some good ESL resources on the Internet, aren't there?

There are some good ESL resources on the internet, aren't there?

[PROESL]

We can find some good ESL resources on the Internet, can't we?

We can find some good ESL resources on the internet, can't we?

[PROESL]

People search for things related to ESL on the Internet, don't they?

People search for things related to ESL on the internet, don't they?

[PROESL]

We can find a lot of ESL EFL resources on the Internet, can't we?

We can find a lot of ESL EFL resources on the internet, can't we?

[PROESL]

There are some great English as a Second Language resources on the Internet, aren't there?

There are some great English as a Second Language resources on the internet, aren't there?