Late-breaking copy-editing story

From Charles S. Clark, Senior Editor at the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges:

Wired magazine recently decided to lower-case the words "Internet" and "Web." The tekkies are upset, judging by the more than 800 protesting comments on Slashdot.com, noted linguist Geoffrey Nunberg on Sept. 30 on National Public Radio. Lots of tekkies think of the Internet as a specific community and monumental place. But Nunberg he says, the Internet by now is a ubiquitous space like the atmosphere, but it is no coherent community. There is no group mind out there, Nunquist says. Americans used to capitalize Radio and Cinema in the 1920s, and he argues that the Internet has receded into the background of American life. So it is more logical to spell Internet with a lower-case "I." I personally don't fully agree, but might be persuaded after a few more years. Yes, the Internet is unique, but there are other types of webs besides the World Wide Web.