Have you ever needed an image for a project you were working on, so you scoured through thousands of search results online until you found the perfect picture? I'm sure we've all been in that situation, and considering how easy it is to do, we probably didn't think twice about it, either.
The Internet is a vast and wonderful place. It offers unlimited resources from articles and videos to gifs and music. New content is added at an astonishing rate, and it doesn't seem to be slowing any time soon. People are constantly creating, developing, and inventing interesting and unique content to be shared instantaneously with the masses. All of this information is just a click away, too.
The ease of access, though, makes it easy to forget that the things we share, save, and download were created by someone with or without the intent of making it available online and with an automatic copyright attached. Many creators face financial losses because people can get their content online for free, whether legally or illegally. And to top it off, many people have faced steep fines for using copyrighted content, even unknowingly.
So how do you navigate the vastness of the Internet to find usable, shareable content while minimizing the risk to yourself and the content's creator? There are a few guidelines you can follow to help keep yourself out of trouble. The best place to start, though, is learning about Copyright and Fair Use laws and how they apply to online content.