So someone commented on a post I made some time ago alerting me to the fact that a person was using my likeness on YouTube to make comments that were upsetting people, aka, trolling on the comments system, with my face. The person included a link, which I followed, and lo and behold, my face was, indeed staring back at me. Apparently the person who alerted me had done a reverse image search. I put a comment on the channel to the effect that the channel owner was using my image without my permission, and she (yes, she does say she's female--although really it could have been anyone, male, female, whatever) responded saying that she does occasionally read my blog, that she apologised for using the image without permission, and had been using it for satire, and had acquired a following, but would leave it up to me. I responded that in the interest of avoiding a case of mistaken identity, I would appreciate it if she would remove the image and any others on YouTube or other sites she had been using them on. That's up to her, of course, but I had already contacted Google and explained that someone was using my image without my permission, not only impersonating me that way but also it was a copyrighted image, and that I had asked them to take it down and was waiting on a reply. The form required a scan of a photo ID, so yes, Google now has a copy of my driver's licence. So it's really in Google's hands at this point.
Now I'm not going to get into whether she was using it for satire or trolling--people often don't get satire, both those who read it and at times those who write it, and I didn't see her actual comments on other channels. The thing I don't get is how anyone could see no trouble in taking another person's image and using it as if it were a picture of herself, and not see why anyone might object. I mean, I know a lot of people use celebrity photos in their profile pictures and the like, but I'm not a celebrity. People know such-and-such isn't the real celebrity, or at least realise that it's highly unlikely, especially on sites that verify such things. But if you steal some unknown person's image and use that as your own, no one knows. I did read some of the comments on the channel where the people, annoyed with her comments, were making very crass comments about her appearance and more, based on my image. Even though I know they were aimed at her, I know people often make judgements based on appearance and frankly, even though they should take nothing online as gospel, believe what they see. So they were in part responding to my picture, and it was a little disheartening.
So maybe the moral of the story is to keep a weather-eye out for such things, not just 'Googling' your name, for example, but doing a search to find similar images based on one you have. Don't use other people's likenesses as your own, and please, for God's sake, don't believe everything you see and read online. I must say, it has been an educating experience.