Because horror stories like this are still making rounds, I am writing another post about stock resources. It should go without saying that any resource you use for blogging, promotions, etc. requires the proper permissions, but people still think it’s okay to grab something out of Google search results. Well, now there are predators taking advantage of that in the most vile way: they deliberately make images available on Google search so they can sue people for using them without permission.
If you haven’t yet checked it out, my Author Resources page lists sites where you can get free and royalty free resources for your projects. I have now added a new one, found in the linked article above: AllTheFreeStock.com. This site is a treasure trove for any DIYer. It is a collection of several websites that offer free stock images, video clips, even sound effects. A word of caution for it: this site opens external sites in one window without leaving the page, and each new site has its own terms of use. Always look for those terms of use, and make sure you abide by them when you use that particular site’s resources. It costs you nothing to fill out a 5-question form about what you’re using a video clip for, but it could potentially save you tens of thousands of dollars in copyright infringement penalties.