Use of "open source" in website name

[John Cowan]

Beth scripsit:

> A web developer I know wants to register an available domain
> "www.opensourcesomething.com", this site has nothing to do with
> software but the site is a commercial, for profit venture.
> 
> I've indicated that I thought it might be inappropriate to use the name.

Nobody *owns* the term "open source", so there is no legal issue.

Ethically, nobody should use it in a way that could reasonably be confused
with the software term.  There are already such uses: in intelligence
work, an "open source" is a source of information that anyone can obtain,
like a newspaper.

> Is this a questionable use of the term "open source" ?

Without knowing what is meant by it, nobody can say.

-- 
I am expressing my opinion.  When my            John Cowan
honorable and gallant friend is called,         cowan at ccil.org
he will express his opinion.  This is           http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
the process which we call Debate.                   --Winston Churchill