Hot linking Images between Domains

Could this incur a penalty -- are there advantages or disavantages

[conor]

I am setting up a site at the moment that will use some content from existing sites. Of course it would be easier to hotlink images from the existing domains for ease of update purposes but could this be frowned upon by googlebot and other spiders. I would have thought not but would appreciate opinions.

[shaadi]

nope hotlinks are not read. e.g. two towers official web site

seems like some one real smateur SEO on display.