What braindead users are praising Google over the "intuitivness" of the idiotic new image design? It is awful. I have to click multiple times now to get to the website. First click brings me to some other google page, with one small url that links to the site. How is this intuitive at all?
When I click on the photo I expect to get taken to the website, much like when I click on the search result in the text searches.

Copyright works the other way around. Copyright is not an opt in, it is an opt out. So if you really want to implement the way you are suggesting google needs to see if it has a "public domain flag" And if its there link to the photo

Apparently a LOT of people cared enough about the webmasters "shitty" website, to want the photo the webmaster was offering. It wasn't free for the webmaster to offer the photo.

You forgot the more common scenario 3, a page with a thumbnail. Google used to link to the page, user goes to the page, click on thumbnail, see high res image. Now users go to google, see high res image.

Not everyone views the high res photo, they might just look at the thumbnail.
Now the site gets almost no traffic, but to just the photo itself. Which doesn't really do the site much good.

Here is a novel idea... PAY for your content!

None. Their ISP will just slow their internet connection

2*2 = 4 Yep, Sounds good

Ok, 2 * 2 = 4... How do you get 16?

While it may be "theoretically 'at way'..." it isn't ACTUALLY at war. So yes, this is as evil as it everyone is making it out to be.

Yeah, you are right. Guerrilla warfare has been proven easy to put down. So why bother.

What "need" do they have an exclusive right over?

If you need to ask the question "do I need a lawyer" then the answer is probably yes.

While that is all true, when was the last time there was a heated debate about how poor our sewage system is, or our water system?

Can you? More and more education resources are on the internet. Most universities require you to have a computer. More government resources or online.
Some people believed that the libraries were important to provide them free to everyone.
And yeah, right now you won't starve if you don't have internet access, that won't necessarily be true in a few years.

The "subsidies" on his phone ran out like 4 years ago.