I’d agree, I think it’s really frequent that even though certain uses and situations are technically bad practice or against the law it often doesn’t amount to anything.
So it’s also a risk/reward calculation.
What I do is use random assets I can get my hands on as prototyping elements, and then I replace everything as it’s turn comes up in the giant spreadsheet of tasks.
Really interestingly, a relatively common thing popping up right now is graffiti artists suing movies and tv shows when the artists art pops up in the background. It’s not as clean cut as you might think. Some cases the graf artist wins, and some cases the artists loses. Usually there’s this whole rigmarole around how an artist can sue for damages if they created the art illegally.
But it’s interesting food for thought because almost every single indie film that takes place near an alley will have some spicy visual graffiti in it and they’ll just consider it fair use, or an added bonus.
But if a big company like HBO films near a well known alley in San Fran… the issue can become way more complex.
So for indies using random assets online, generally not tons will come from it.
Until their game gets more exposure.