Internet or internet in British English?

Question

In American and Australian English we treat the Internet as a proper noun and write it with a big I. That is the Internet is a thing with a name, different from small i internets. But in the UK published A level specifications from Edexcel, they continually use a small i.

Is this correct in British English or are the people at Edexcel as stupid as I think they are (I won't go into the stupid things in their assessment rules for some of their courses).

This is an important question because it changes the meaning of text. For technical minded people Internet use and internet use are 2 completely different things and for technical writing this is like writing the different between MC Hammer and a hammer.

Answer 1

Unfortunately, this is rather a "moot point", but in answer to a sensible question as to the British English use of the capital letter, I would suggest you use the capital - after all, although it's sub-divided into thousands if not millions of parts, there is really only one Internet and I see no reason for the earlier comments made on this matter ! ! !

Answer 2

I'm pretty sure the correct English is Internet.

Answer 3

I realise I'm chiming in with Hiberno-English, but our exam books specify Internet.

Check an Oxford English dictionary? Surely they'd have the correct one.

Answer 4

Never noticed....I would have thought a proper noun was a proper noun was a proper noun in any English, so should have a capital I