Good read on "Fair Use"

It is a huge, contentious area online. When I quote a photog and link to his/her image, which is similar to "word of mouth" I would think that it would follow under "fair use" as I am obviously crediting (through text and link) the creator and actually performing a viral marketing function for them. I thinks it is far different than grabbing an image and putting on a page with no link or credit. Am I wrong? I don't think so.

Fair use of photos on blogs - the photographers speak out. - The Digital Photography Weblog - digitalphotography.weblogsinc.com _: "I had dinner with two big name photographers in L.A. recently. These are folks who's name you might recognize even if you are not in the photography industry. I asked them both under what circumstances could use their images without paying them, they both immediately responded emphatically "under no circumstances!"

Interesting. I asked them if they had heard of the term fair use, and they said they had heard of it but their photo agencies had told them that no one can use their images ever without their permission. This, of course, is not true. There is fair use, and there is commercial fair use as well. The issue is how, as an industry, we will impliment fair use. It is, at the end of the day, up to us how this all goes down."