diberry - 8:47 pm on Oct 2, 2012 (gmt 0)

Thanks, leosghost, that's helpful.

I think part of my confusion here is that some people are selling images, and they are the ones whose interests really need to be protected. But the rest of us are just using images to give our text more impact. For the latter group, when people "borrow" an image in a way that sends us traffic, this is analogous to a shop giving out free car washes in the parking lot to attract new customers. You're right, it's a choice, and for me it comes to this: Google searchers don't convert. Social media and direct link visitors do. Even at the risk of losing Google traffic, I need the social media visitors more, and images attract visitors more than just text.