oomis: Online smicha currently costs $ 4,920. If some rich kid gets smicha from here who has plenty of money and free time, spends 20 years as a lawyer and doesn’t learn a day after that: your father should be mekaved him while he addresses your father who learns Torah all day as Mr. so and so?”
FTR, my dad (who was niftar 19 years ago, and I only WISH some rich kid or ANY kid could see him today to get a Sholom Aleichem, if not kovod, from him) had the title Dr. in his health-related profession, and Chazzan too. He wore many hats, but Rabbi was not one of them.
Be that as that may, if online smicha were considered legitimate smicha, then I would have no problem addressing the individual who received it, as Rabbi. I cannot imagine however, that Smicha can be conferred by another Rov, without actually doing the action of “smicha” on the talmid. So it would tend to make me think that unlike an on-line reputable college degree (where the student actually has to do and submit the work) it is not quite the same getting “smicha by internet.”
I understand the point you are making,and btw, there is such a thing as smicha for teaching, but not paskening shailos, and it is also a kovod to the mechaneich b’Torah, to be called Rav or rebbie even without smicha. My sons had rebbeim who for certain did not have smicha, but were called Rav so and so, and their learning reflected their worthiness of the title.