The New York Times [free

The New York Times [free registration required] reports that joseph turow, a professor at the annenberg school for communication at the university of pennsylvania, has started a campaign to get the Internet de-capitalised. "I think the moment is right," he said, to treat the Internet "the way we refer to television, radio and the telephone." If the report is accurate, that seems to provide a conclusive demonstration of the fact that prof turow doesn't have a clue what he is talking about. Actually, no one reckons that "online communications" or "personal computer" should be capitalised unless they are part of tade names. Even if his comparison made sense (which it doesn't), it would be like confusing the sea with the Pacific Ocean. Anybody who can be bothered to do a few minutes research will be able to find out that the Internet is not just any old communications system but a trademarked term for a specific network of networks looked after by the Internet Society, the Internet Engineering Task Force and similar bodies. The Internet has just as much right to its capital as, say, the University of Pennsylvania, or the Pacific Ocean, and such correctness is not affected by ignorant and/or sloppy usage, no matter how common it becomes.