What I typed up in my original Reddit post:
I’m trying to use pictures and footage in a way that’s not copyright infringement. I’m trying to take a note from Hbomberguy here. But of course, that may be impossible, I’m just not sure. Maybe it’s a high bar. Do YouTubers often check or give credit in their pictures?
I’m trying make sure I don’t get into trouble and remain ethical, take the moral path, so to speak. I have sources, at least. Maybe not full citations, but I talk about my sources in my book reviews. But the pictures and slides confuse me. Is there a way to cite them or do I just take them from Google images or some stock photo and use them? What about screenshoting some?
What about using footage or footage from other YouTubers? Stock footage? Or footage from another YouTube channel, like historical footage or black-and-white footage? Or, say, you wanted to use a gaming stream footage? I’m trying to cover my bases here.
I’m just trying to not get in trouble and remain respectful.
What are the ethics here?
Sorry, dumb questions, I know, but I feel that a clear answer is needed and Reddit gives me answers better than Google searches, though I am using those.
I didn’t get as many answers as I would’ve liked. I’m also looking for resources for stock imagery or footage or music. In addition, anything else I need. Maybe a website with free images? I don’t know, but anything I might be missing.
Cheers!
I am looking through Googel and Bing on this topic so I’m still doing my own research; this is just in case I’ve missed anything.
If it’s US law then you can use copyrighted images for “fair use” purposes, which includes but is not limited to education and criticism. Though with automated bot reporting there is always a chance your video would get unfairly reported. There are also public domain stock images if that’s the kind of thing you need.
Anything else I should know?
If you do need to use copyrighted images for fair use purposes, modifying them a bit can help obfuscate them from bots. Let’s say you want to criticize Nestlé. Their logo is birds in a nest. You could swap the birds for different cartoon birds, for example. This can be an opportunity to do something artistic or interesting as well as satire, like making the nest be made of dollar bills, a baby bird be porky, etc.
Another tip is totally separate from the copyright question but I do think it is importsnt. In terms of social media, both platforms are not anonymous by default. While you can obfuscate via your username so that randos can’t ID you, both Facebook and Google tend to require a phone number to sign up/log in and both work with governments. So I recommend taking one of two approaches:
Accept that this may eventually be associated with your name and cater your messaging accordingly.
Go down the rabbithole of infosec to become more anonymous. For example, finding a way to buy a phone number with cash and not associated with your name and exclusively using a trustworthy VPN / VPS tunnel, again paid for with cash (Mullvad offers this, including with a voucher that is probably as secure as cash). This is a bunch of work but it is a generally enriching exercise that can provide value in irl organizing.
Also, thanks for being comprehensive in your replies.
Good news, at the least: I already have Mullvad VPN.
I do not have another phone number except my old house number (which maybe I can use?) but that’s about it (I’ve since moved from that location in particular). How do you purchase such a thing?
I am becoming more and more interested in infosec… which isn’t to say that I wasn’t before, but I took my privacy for granted, and now they’re searching damn phones and tablets in airports (I’ve traveled a lot).
Also, I have a Proton account, but I know that they supported the “Hong Kong protestors” back then and I think support Ukraine (which… I don’t consider to be damning, per se, considering that’s all fine and popular to do, but I’m sure, if asked, they would give certain info or ID to other people, if pressured enough to do so). I have an Element or Matrix account as well.
I tried to install Linux already, but made a stupid error, and had to get my laptop unlocked, but I can try again, I’m sure.
Glad you’ve got Mullvad! It’s the best VPN imo.
I haven’t tried buying a phone number anonymously in a long time and the last time I tried it no longer worked for fooling Google, so unfortunately I won’t be super helpful there. But I do know it ia theoretically possible. It’s basically a VOIP provider that is verified to work with Google. Payment anonymously (like with cash) is probably the hardest part. If you go that route I would recommend using something other than a phone number for 2FA, like a yubikey or open source authenticator app, so that if Google eventually says, “we don’t accept this number anymore” you have a chance to log in. Sorry for being less helpful on this question!
Proton is theoretically better than Google for email. IMO email is inherently insecure as a technology and due to the domination from the big providers that will blacklist you for “spam” if you don’t jump through their hoops, which lractically necessitates paying a company to send your emails. The “best” setup that uses that third party and does not use GPG is to buy a domain, self-host your own inbox so that received email goes only to you, and and pay the third party just to send outgoing messages - which should be assumed to be insecure. In theory the best option is to run everything yourself with a domain purchased under a fake name with an anonymous paymeny method (which I haven’t personally tried yet) and being very on top of things so your sent mail doesn’t get marked as spam. And to encryot all your messages via GPG. But at that point of security concer , for most purposes I would just not use email at all and instead use something more inherently secure, ideally in-person conversations. Element and Matrix are better buy their funding model raises red flags so it is jusy something to regularly audit and understand. Avoid the habit of being too candid because you trust the software to protect you!
Linux is great and will help with getting more comfortable with digial security, so that’s a good thing to keep trying at! It has a learning curve so don’t get discouraged when things break the first few times.