hey, maybe silly question that I already know the answer to. but if I put some youtube videos on my site and then transcribe their talking into textual content for my site (whatever they are saying in the videos)... is that considered copyright infringement?
It would depend on what the content of the video was and the way you used it on your site. If it was a popular song, then the lyrics themselves are probably copyrighted. Same would go for a clip of a popular TV show. Depending on the purpose of your site it could potentially be fair use if you were just transcribing small parts and doing so to invite commentary. Usually the underlying material is copyrighted so you would probably be infringing on that material. Transcribing political commercials or things of that nature is probably allowed and non-infringing. Again, it really comes down to the material and how you use it.