My answer to remote linking is to replace/rename the original with something else, most of the time the user isn't aware of the change for ages. I once got banned from a forum when I changed one of my million home-made gifs to one that said "I couldn't be bothered to ask so I stole this avatar off slumpy". I didn't know the guy was a high-powered mod, so my life was short-lived, but it stopped anyone else doing it.