Are free fonts dangerous to use from a technical or legal standpoint?

Free fonts are fonts you can download and use for no charge. But if you read the fine print in the license for some free fonts, they are free for personal use, but not commercial use. Once the font is used for something other than personal use, such as using the font on a web page or in a brochure, the designer is out of compliance with the license and exposes themselves, their employer and their client to potential legal action. In some cases, legal awards in these situations have been as high as several hundred thousand dollars.

So even in the instance when a font is offered for free, it important to consult the font license to see what use is covered by that license.