Effective with this sentence, Wired News will no longer capitalize the "I" in internet. At the same time, Web becomes web and Net becomes net.

[ Wired News: It's Just the 'internet' Now ]

And here's the problem, the title of this piece is wrong. It should be “It's Just 'internet' Now”. later in the article it clearly states:

Web will continue to be capitalized when part of the more official entity, World Wide Web.

And I can only assume that this goes for “internet” and “net” as well. Which means the 'i' in “The Internet” is still capitalized, as would be the 'n' in “The Net” though that's just slang so Wired News would likely not capitalize it. This editorial has caught a good deal of flack, and I think undeservedly so. Sure, at first I was ready to go off just as I always do when it comes to this stupid capitalization thing, but I think that Wired has not swung the pendulum way to the other side, but in fact has just corrected the mistake they've been making.

My only remaining question is, does Wired know that “the Internet” is just one thing, and it's name is “Internet” and therefore, by their own new rule, should be capitalized?

Of course, in the remote possibility that Wired still doesn't understand how to capitalize, join me on the Virtual Quill bandwagon and embrace the chaos of English spelling and grammar (unlike some)!

Update: What about “the matrix”?