--- a/bio/forms.py	Sun Sep 13 14:51:33 2015 -0500
+++ b/bio/forms.py	Tue Sep 22 20:23:50 2015 -0500
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 
 from bio.models import UserProfile
 from core.widgets import AutoCompleteUserInput
-from core.image import parse_image, downscale_image_square
+from core.images.utils import parse_image, downscale_image_square
 
 
 class EditUserForm(forms.ModelForm):

--- a/core/image.py	Sun Sep 13 14:51:33 2015 -0500
+++ /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
@@ -1,118 +0,0 @@
-"""
-This file contains common utility functions for manipulating images for
-the rest of the applications in the project.
-"""
-from PIL import ImageFile
-from PIL import Image
-
-
-def parse_image(file):
-    """
-    Returns a PIL Image from the supplied Django file object.
-    Throws IOError if the file does not parse as an image file or some other
-    I/O error occurred.
-
-    """
-    parser = ImageFile.Parser()
-    for chunk in file.chunks():
-        parser.feed(chunk)
-    image = parser.close()
-    return image
-
-
-def downscale_image_square(image, size):
-    """
-    Scale an image to the square dimensions given by size (in pixels).
-    The new image is returned.
-    If the image is already smaller than (size, size) then no scaling
-    is performed and the image is returned unchanged.
-
-    """
-    # don't upscale
-    if (size, size) >= image.size:
-        return image
-
-    (w, h) = image.size
-    if w > h:
-        diff = (w - h) / 2
-        image = image.crop((diff, 0, w - diff, h))
-    elif h > w:
-        diff = (h - w) / 2
-        image = image.crop((0, diff, w, h - diff))
-    image = image.resize((size, size), Image.ANTIALIAS)
-    return image
-
-
-# Various image transformation functions:
-def flip_horizontal(im):
-    return im.transpose(Image.FLIP_LEFT_RIGHT)
-
-def flip_vertical(im):
-    return im.transpose(Image.FLIP_TOP_BOTTOM)
-
-def rotate_180(im):
-    return im.transpose(Image.ROTATE_180)
-
-def rotate_90(im):
-    return im.transpose(Image.ROTATE_90)
-
-def rotate_270(im):
-    return im.transpose(Image.ROTATE_270)
-
-def transpose(im):
-    return rotate_90(flip_horizontal(im))
-
-def transverse(im):
-    return rotate_90(flip_vertical(im))
-
-# From http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/TagNames/EXIF.html
-# EXIF Orientation tag values:
-# 1 = Horizontal (normal)
-# 2 = Mirror horizontal
-# 3 = Rotate 180
-# 4 = Mirror vertical
-# 5 = Mirror horizontal and rotate 270 CW
-# 6 = Rotate 90 CW
-# 7 = Mirror horizontal and rotate 90 CW
-# 8 = Rotate 270 CW
-
-ORIENT_FUNCS = {
-    2: flip_horizontal,
-    3: rotate_180,
-    4: flip_vertical,
-    5: transpose,
-    6: rotate_270,
-    7: transverse,
-    8: rotate_90,
-}
-
-ORIENT_TAG = 0x112
-
-
-def orient_image(im):
-    """Transforms the given image according to embedded EXIF data.
-
-    The image instance, im, should be a PIL Image.
-    If there is EXIF information for the image, and the orientation tag
-    indicates that the image should be transformed, perform the transformation.
-
-    Returns a tuple of the form (flag, image) where flag is True if the image
-    was oriented and False otherwise. image is either a new transformed image or
-    the original image instance.
-
-    """
-    if hasattr(im, '_getexif'):
-        try:
-            exif = im._getexif()
-        except IndexError:
-            # Work around issue seen in Pillow
-            # https://github.com/python-pillow/Pillow/issues/518
-            exif = None
-
-        if exif and ORIENT_TAG in exif:
-            orientation = exif[ORIENT_TAG]
-            func = ORIENT_FUNCS.get(orientation)
-            if func:
-                return (True, func(im))
-
-    return (False, im)

--- a/core/image_uploader.py	Sun Sep 13 14:51:33 2015 -0500
+++ /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
@@ -1,94 +0,0 @@
-"""This module contains a function to upload an image file to a S3Bucket.
-
-The image can be resized and a thumbnail can be generated and uploaded as well.
-
-"""
-from base64 import b64encode
-import logging
-from io import BytesIO
-import os.path
-import uuid
-
-from PIL import Image
-
-from core.image import orient_image
-
-
-logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
-
-
-def make_key():
-    """Generate a random key suitable for a filename"""
-    return b64encode(uuid.uuid4().bytes, '-_').rstrip('=')
-
-
-def upload(filename, bucket, metadata=None, new_size=None, thumb_size=None):
-    """Upload an image file to a given S3Bucket.
-
-    The image can optionally be resized and a thumbnail can be generated and
-    uploaded as well.
-
-    Parameters:
-        filename - The path to the file to process. The filename should have an
-                   extension, and this is used for the uploaded image & thumbnail
-                   names.
-        bucket - A core.s3.S3Bucket instance to upload to.
-        metadata - If not None, must be a dictionary of metadata to apply to the
-                   uploaded file and thumbnail.
-        new_size - If not None, the image will be resized to the dimensions
-                   specified by new_size, which must be a (width, height) tuple.
-        thumb_size - If not None, a thumbnail image will be created with the
-                     dimensions specified by thumb_size, which must be a (width,
-                     height) tuple. The thumbnail will use the same metadata, if
-                     present, as the image. The thumbnail filename will be the
-                     same basename as the image with a 't' appended. The
-                     extension will be the same as the original image.
-
-    A tuple is returned: (image_url, thumb_url) where thumb_url will be None if
-    a thumbnail was not requested.
-    """
-
-    logger.info('Processing image file: %s', filename)
-
-    unique_key = make_key()
-    ext = os.path.splitext(filename)[1]
-
-    # Re-orient if necessary
-    image = Image.open(filename)
-    changed, image = orient_image(image)
-    if changed:
-        image.save(filename)
-
-    # Resize image if necessary
-    if new_size:
-        image = Image.open(filename)
-        if image.size > new_size:
-            logger.debug('Resizing from {} to {}'.format(image.size, new_size))
-            image.thumbnail(new_size, Image.ANTIALIAS)
-            image.save(filename)
-
-    # Create thumbnail if necessary
-    thumb = None
-    if thumb_size:
-        logger.debug('Creating thumbnail {}'.format(thumb_size))
-        image = Image.open(filename)
-        image.thumbnail(thumb_size, Image.ANTIALIAS)
-        thumb = BytesIO()
-        image.save(thumb, format=image.format)
-
-    # Upload images to S3
-    file_key = unique_key + ext
-    logging.debug('Uploading image')
-    image_url = bucket.upload_from_filename(file_key, filename, metadata)
-
-    thumb_url = None
-    if thumb:
-        logging.debug('Uploading thumbnail')
-        thumb_key = '{}t{}'.format(unique_key, ext)
-        thumb_url = bucket.upload_from_string(thumb_key,
-                                              thumb.getvalue(),
-                                              metadata)
-
-    logger.info('Completed processing image file: %s', filename)
-
-    return (image_url, thumb_url)

--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/core/images/upload.py	Tue Sep 22 20:23:50 2015 -0500
@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+"""This module contains a function to upload an image file to a S3Bucket.
+
+The image can be resized and a thumbnail can be generated and uploaded as well.
+
+"""
+from base64 import b64encode
+import logging
+from io import BytesIO
+import os.path
+import uuid
+
+from PIL import Image
+
+from .utils import orient_image
+
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+
+def make_key():
+    """Generate a random key suitable for a filename"""
+    return b64encode(uuid.uuid4().bytes, '-_').rstrip('=')
+
+
+def upload(filename, bucket, metadata=None, new_size=None, thumb_size=None):
+    """Upload an image file to a given S3Bucket.
+
+    The image can optionally be resized and a thumbnail can be generated and
+    uploaded as well.
+
+    Parameters:
+        filename - The path to the file to process. The filename should have an
+                   extension, and this is used for the uploaded image & thumbnail
+                   names.
+        bucket - A core.s3.S3Bucket instance to upload to.
+        metadata - If not None, must be a dictionary of metadata to apply to the
+                   uploaded file and thumbnail.
+        new_size - If not None, the image will be resized to the dimensions
+                   specified by new_size, which must be a (width, height) tuple.
+        thumb_size - If not None, a thumbnail image will be created with the
+                     dimensions specified by thumb_size, which must be a (width,
+                     height) tuple. The thumbnail will use the same metadata, if
+                     present, as the image. The thumbnail filename will be the
+                     same basename as the image with a 't' appended. The
+                     extension will be the same as the original image.
+
+    A tuple is returned: (image_url, thumb_url) where thumb_url will be None if
+    a thumbnail was not requested.
+    """
+
+    logger.info('Processing image file: %s', filename)
+
+    unique_key = make_key()
+    ext = os.path.splitext(filename)[1]
+
+    # Re-orient if necessary
+    image = Image.open(filename)
+    changed, image = orient_image(image)
+    if changed:
+        image.save(filename)
+
+    # Resize image if necessary
+    if new_size:
+        image = Image.open(filename)
+        if image.size > new_size:
+            logger.debug('Resizing from {} to {}'.format(image.size, new_size))
+            image.thumbnail(new_size, Image.ANTIALIAS)
+            image.save(filename)
+
+    # Create thumbnail if necessary
+    thumb = None
+    if thumb_size:
+        logger.debug('Creating thumbnail {}'.format(thumb_size))
+        image = Image.open(filename)
+        image.thumbnail(thumb_size, Image.ANTIALIAS)
+        thumb = BytesIO()
+        image.save(thumb, format=image.format)
+
+    # Upload images to S3
+    file_key = unique_key + ext
+    logging.debug('Uploading image')
+    image_url = bucket.upload_from_filename(file_key, filename, metadata)
+
+    thumb_url = None
+    if thumb:
+        logging.debug('Uploading thumbnail')
+        thumb_key = '{}t{}'.format(unique_key, ext)
+        thumb_url = bucket.upload_from_string(thumb_key,
+                                              thumb.getvalue(),
+                                              metadata)
+
+    logger.info('Completed processing image file: %s', filename)
+
+    return (image_url, thumb_url)

--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/core/images/utils.py	Tue Sep 22 20:23:50 2015 -0500
@@ -0,0 +1,118 @@
+"""
+This file contains common utility functions for manipulating images for
+the rest of the applications in the project.
+"""
+from PIL import ImageFile
+from PIL import Image
+
+
+def parse_image(file):
+    """
+    Returns a PIL Image from the supplied Django file object.
+    Throws IOError if the file does not parse as an image file or some other
+    I/O error occurred.
+
+    """
+    parser = ImageFile.Parser()
+    for chunk in file.chunks():
+        parser.feed(chunk)
+    image = parser.close()
+    return image
+
+
+def downscale_image_square(image, size):
+    """
+    Scale an image to the square dimensions given by size (in pixels).
+    The new image is returned.
+    If the image is already smaller than (size, size) then no scaling
+    is performed and the image is returned unchanged.
+
+    """
+    # don't upscale
+    if (size, size) >= image.size:
+        return image
+
+    (w, h) = image.size
+    if w > h:
+        diff = (w - h) / 2
+        image = image.crop((diff, 0, w - diff, h))
+    elif h > w:
+        diff = (h - w) / 2
+        image = image.crop((0, diff, w, h - diff))
+    image = image.resize((size, size), Image.ANTIALIAS)
+    return image
+
+
+# Various image transformation functions:
+def flip_horizontal(im):
+    return im.transpose(Image.FLIP_LEFT_RIGHT)
+
+def flip_vertical(im):
+    return im.transpose(Image.FLIP_TOP_BOTTOM)
+
+def rotate_180(im):
+    return im.transpose(Image.ROTATE_180)
+
+def rotate_90(im):
+    return im.transpose(Image.ROTATE_90)
+
+def rotate_270(im):
+    return im.transpose(Image.ROTATE_270)
+
+def transpose(im):
+    return rotate_90(flip_horizontal(im))
+
+def transverse(im):
+    return rotate_90(flip_vertical(im))
+
+# From http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/TagNames/EXIF.html
+# EXIF Orientation tag values:
+# 1 = Horizontal (normal)
+# 2 = Mirror horizontal
+# 3 = Rotate 180
+# 4 = Mirror vertical
+# 5 = Mirror horizontal and rotate 270 CW
+# 6 = Rotate 90 CW
+# 7 = Mirror horizontal and rotate 90 CW
+# 8 = Rotate 270 CW
+
+ORIENT_FUNCS = {
+    2: flip_horizontal,
+    3: rotate_180,
+    4: flip_vertical,
+    5: transpose,
+    6: rotate_270,
+    7: transverse,
+    8: rotate_90,
+}
+
+ORIENT_TAG = 0x112
+
+
+def orient_image(im):
+    """Transforms the given image according to embedded EXIF data.
+
+    The image instance, im, should be a PIL Image.
+    If there is EXIF information for the image, and the orientation tag
+    indicates that the image should be transformed, perform the transformation.
+
+    Returns a tuple of the form (flag, image) where flag is True if the image
+    was oriented and False otherwise. image is either a new transformed image or
+    the original image instance.
+
+    """
+    if hasattr(im, '_getexif'):
+        try:
+            exif = im._getexif()
+        except IndexError:
+            # Work around issue seen in Pillow
+            # https://github.com/python-pillow/Pillow/issues/518
+            exif = None
+
+        if exif and ORIENT_TAG in exif:
+            orientation = exif[ORIENT_TAG]
+            func = ORIENT_FUNCS.get(orientation)
+            if func:
+                return (True, func(im))
+
+    return (False, im)

--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/core/tests/test_html.py	Tue Sep 22 20:23:50 2015 -0500
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+"""Tests for the core.html module."""
+import unittest
+
+from core.html import ImageCheckError
+from core.html import image_check
+
+
+TEST_HTML = """
+<p>Posters and Facebook events are starting to come in...</p>
+<p><img src="{src1}" alt="image"></p>
+<p><img src="{src2}" alt="image"></p>
+"""
+
+
+class ImageCheckTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.allowed_hosts = ['example.com']
+
+    def test_happy_path(self):
+        url1 = 'https://example.com/1.jpg'
+        url2 = 'https://example.com/2.jpg'
+        html = TEST_HTML.format(src1=url1, src2=url2)
+
+        result = image_check(html, self.allowed_hosts)
+        self.assertTrue(result)
+
+    def test_empty_image(self):
+        url1 = 'https://example.com/1.jpg'
+        url2 = ''
+        html = TEST_HTML.format(src1=url1, src2=url2)
+
+        self.assertRaises(ImageCheckError, image_check, html, self.allowed_hosts)
+
+    def test_relative_ok(self):
+        url1 = 'https://example.com/1.jpg'
+        url2 = '/some/path/2.jpg'
+        html = TEST_HTML.format(src1=url1, src2=url2)
+
+        result = image_check(html, self.allowed_hosts)
+        self.assertTrue(result)
+
+    def test_non_https(self):
+        url1 = 'http://example.com/1.jpg'
+        url2 = 'https://example.com/2.jpg'
+        html = TEST_HTML.format(src1=url1, src2=url2)
+
+        self.assertRaises(ImageCheckError, image_check, html, self.allowed_hosts)
+
+    def test_missing_hostname(self):
+        url1 = 'http:///1.jpg'
+        url2 = 'https://example.com/2.jpg'
+        html = TEST_HTML.format(src1=url1, src2=url2)
+
+        self.assertRaises(ImageCheckError, image_check, html, self.allowed_hosts)
+
+    def test_hostname_not_allowed1(self):
+        url1 = 'https://xxx.example.com/1.jpg'
+        url2 = 'https://example.com/2.jpg'
+        html = TEST_HTML.format(src1=url1, src2=url2)
+
+        self.assertRaises(ImageCheckError, image_check, html, self.allowed_hosts)
+
+    def test_hostname_not_allowed2(self):
+        url1 = 'https://xxx.example.com/1.jpg'
+        url2 = 'https://yyy.example.com/2.jpg'
+        html = TEST_HTML.format(src1=url1, src2=url2)
+
+        self.assertRaises(ImageCheckError, image_check, html, self.allowed_hosts)

--- a/requirements.txt	Sun Sep 13 14:51:33 2015 -0500
+++ b/requirements.txt	Tue Sep 22 20:23:50 2015 -0500
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@
 rsa==3.1.4
 simplejson==3.6.5
 uritemplate==0.6
+requests==2.7.0
 #
 # These packages I punted on and hacked into my virtualenv by
 # symlinking to the global site-packages:

--- a/requirements_dev.txt	Sun Sep 13 14:51:33 2015 -0500
+++ b/requirements_dev.txt	Tue Sep 22 20:23:50 2015 -0500
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@
 mock==1.0.1
 lxml==3.4.2
 testfixtures==4.1.2
+requests==2.7.0
 -e git+https://github.com/gremmie/django-elsewhere.git@1203bd331aba4c5d4e702cc4e64d807310f2b591#egg=django_elsewhere-master
 -e git+https://github.com/notanumber/xapian-haystack.git@a3a3a4e7cfba3e2e1be3a42abf59edd29ea03c05#egg=xapian_haystack-master
 -e hg+https://bgneal@bitbucket.org/bgneal/queues@862e8846f7e5f5a0df7f08bfe4b4e5283acb4614#egg=queues-dev

--- a/requirements_mac.txt	Sun Sep 13 14:51:33 2015 -0500
+++ b/requirements_mac.txt	Tue Sep 22 20:23:50 2015 -0500
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@
 paramiko==1.15.2
 pss==1.40
 wsgiref==0.1.2
+requests==2.7.0
 #
 # These packages I punted on and hacked into my virtualenv by
 # symlinking to the global site-packages:

--- a/sg101/settings/base.py	Sun Sep 13 14:51:33 2015 -0500
+++ b/sg101/settings/base.py	Tue Sep 22 20:23:50 2015 -0500
@@ -295,6 +295,8 @@
 USER_PHOTOS_MAX_SIZE = (660, 720)
 USER_PHOTOS_THUMB_SIZE = (120, 120)
 USER_PHOTOS_RATE_LIMIT = (50, 86400)   # number / seconds
+HOT_LINK_PHOTOS_BASE_URL = 'https://s3.amazonaws.com/'
+HOT_LINK_PHOTOS_BUCKET = 'sg101.forum.photos'
 
 USER_IMAGES_SOURCES = [
     'dl.dropboxusercontent.com',

--- a/sg101/templates/forums/show_form.html	Sun Sep 13 14:51:33 2015 -0500
+++ b/sg101/templates/forums/show_form.html	Tue Sep 22 20:23:50 2015 -0500
@@ -39,6 +39,20 @@
 </fieldset>
 </form>
 
+<form id="hot-link-form" action="{% url 'user_photos-hotlink' %}" method="post"
+   enctype="multipart/form-data">{% csrf_token %}
+<fieldset>
+   <legend>Hot Link Image</legend>
+   <p>
+   To add an image already on the Internet to your post, copy &amp; paste the
+   image URL to the box below, and hit "Hot Link". An image code will be placed
+   in the post box, above.
+   </p>
+   <input type="url" name="url" /><br />
+   <input type="submit" id="hot-link-form-submit" name="submit" value="Hot Link" />
+</fieldset>
+</form>
+
 <form id="photo-upload-form" action="{% url 'user_photos-upload_ajax' %}" method="post"
    enctype="multipart/form-data">{% csrf_token %}
 <fieldset>
@@ -48,10 +62,6 @@
    form. After the photo is uploaded it will be resized and an image code will be
    placed in the post box, above.
    </p>
-   <p>To hot-link a photo hosted elsewhere, use the
-   <img src="{{ STATIC_URL }}js/markitup/sets/markdown/images/picture.png">
-   icon on the post box.
-   </p>
    <input type="file" name="image_file" /><br />
    <input type="submit" id="photo-upload-submit" name="submit" value="Upload photo" />
    <div style="width: 80%;margin:auto;"><div id="photo-upload-progress"

--- a/static/js/markitup/sets/markdown/set.js	Sun Sep 13 14:51:33 2015 -0500
+++ b/static/js/markitup/sets/markdown/set.js	Tue Sep 22 20:23:50 2015 -0500
@@ -179,4 +179,38 @@
          }
       });
    }
+
+   var $hotLinkForm = $('#hot-link-form');
+   if ($hotLinkForm.length) {
+      var $postBox = $('#id_body');
+      var $hotLinkFormSubmit = $('#hot-link-form-submit');
+
+      $hotLinkForm.ajaxForm({
+         beforeSubmit: function(arr, $form, options) {
+            var url = null;
+            $.each(arr, function(index, val) {
+               if (val.name == 'url') {
+                  url = val.value;
+               }
+            });
+            if (!url) {
+               alert("Please enter an image URL.");
+               return false;
+            }
+            $hotLinkFormSubmit.attr('disabled', 'disabled').val('Retrieving...');
+            return true;
+         },
+         success: function(resp, statusText, xhr, $form) {
+            $postBox.val($postBox.val() + '\n![image](' + resp.url + ')');
+            alert("Success! The image code was added to your post.");
+            $hotLinkForm.clearForm();
+         },
+         complete: function(xhr) {
+            $hotLinkFormSubmit.removeAttr('disabled').val('Hot Link');
+         },
+         error: function(xhr, textStatus, ex) {
+            alert('Oops, there was an error: ' + ex);
+         }
+      });
+   }
 });

--- a/user_photos/forms.py	Sun Sep 13 14:51:33 2015 -0500
+++ b/user_photos/forms.py	Tue Sep 22 20:23:50 2015 -0500
@@ -2,13 +2,15 @@
 import datetime
 import hashlib
 import os.path
+import urlparse
 
 from django import forms
 from django.conf import settings
 
+from core.download import download_file
+from core.functions import TemporaryFile
+from core.images.upload import upload
 from core.s3 import S3Bucket
-from core.image_uploader import upload
-from core.functions import TemporaryFile
 from core.services import get_redis_connection
 from user_photos.models import Photo
 
@@ -29,6 +31,15 @@
     return val > limit
 
 
+def rate_limit_user(user):
+    """Shared function to rate limit user uploads."""
+    key = 'user_photos:counts:' + user.username
+    limit = settings.USER_PHOTOS_RATE_LIMIT
+    if rate_limit(key, *limit):
+        raise forms.ValidationError("You've exceeded your upload quota. "
+                "Please try again later.")
+
+
 class UploadForm(forms.Form):
     image_file = forms.ImageField()
 
@@ -38,14 +49,7 @@
 
     def clean(self):
         cleaned_data = super(UploadForm, self).clean()
-
-        # rate limit uploads
-        key = 'user_photos:counts:' + self.user.username
-        limit = settings.USER_PHOTOS_RATE_LIMIT
-        if rate_limit(key, *limit):
-            raise forms.ValidationError("You've exceeded your upload quota. "
-                    "Please try again later.")
-
+        rate_limit_user(self.user)
         return cleaned_data
 
     def save(self):
@@ -113,3 +117,55 @@
         for chunk in fp.chunks():
             md5.update(chunk)
         return md5.hexdigest()
+
+
+class HotLinkImageForm(forms.Form):
+    """Form for hot-linking images. If the supplied URL's host is on
+    a white-list, return it as-is. Otherwise attempt to download the image at
+    the given URL and upload it into our S3 storage. The URL to the new location
+    is returned.
+    """
+    url = forms.URLField()
+
+    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        self.user = kwargs.pop('user')
+        super(HotLinkImageForm, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
+
+    def clean_url(self):
+        the_url = self.cleaned_data['url']
+        self.url_parts = urlparse.urlsplit(the_url)
+        if self.url_parts.scheme not in ['http', 'https']:
+            raise forms.ValidationError("Invalid URL scheme")
+        return the_url
+
+    def clean(self):
+        cleaned_data = super(HotLinkImageForm, self).clean()
+        rate_limit_user(self.user)
+        return cleaned_data
+
+    def save(self):
+        import pdb; pdb.set_trace()
+
+        url = self.url_parts.geturl()
+        if (self.url_parts.scheme == 'https' and
+                self.url_parts.hostname in settings.USER_IMAGES_SOURCES):
+            return url
+
+        # Try to download the file
+        path = download_file(url)
+
+        # Upload it to our S3 bucket
+        bucket = S3Bucket(access_key=settings.USER_PHOTOS_ACCESS_KEY,
+                          secret_key=settings.USER_PHOTOS_SECRET_KEY,
+                          base_url=settings.HOT_LINK_PHOTOS_BASE_URL,
+                          bucket_name=settings.HOT_LINK_PHOTOS_BUCKET)
+
+        now = datetime.datetime.now().strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')
+        metadata = {'user': self.user.username, 'date': now}
+
+        url, _ = upload(filename=path,
+                        bucket=bucket,
+                        metadata=metadata,
+                        new_size=settings.USER_PHOTOS_MAX_SIZE)
+
+        return url

--- a/user_photos/urls.py	Sun Sep 13 14:51:33 2015 -0500
+++ b/user_photos/urls.py	Tue Sep 22 20:23:50 2015 -0500
@@ -18,4 +18,7 @@
         GalleryView.as_view(),
         name='user_photos-gallery'),
     url(r'^delete/$', 'user_photos.views.delete', name='user_photos-delete'),
+    url(r'^hotlink/$',
+        'user_photos.views.hotlink_image',
+        name='user_photos-hotlink'),
 )

--- a/user_photos/views.py	Sun Sep 13 14:51:33 2015 -0500
+++ b/user_photos/views.py	Tue Sep 22 20:23:50 2015 -0500
@@ -5,14 +5,14 @@
 from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
 from django.contrib.auth.decorators import login_required
 from django.http import (HttpResponse, HttpResponseForbidden,
-    HttpResponseNotAllowed)
+    HttpResponseNotAllowed, JsonResponse)
 from django.shortcuts import render, redirect, get_object_or_404
 from django.views.generic import ListView
 from django.views.decorators.http import require_POST
 from django.utils.decorators import method_decorator
 from django.contrib import messages
 
-from user_photos.forms import UploadForm
+from user_photos.forms import HotLinkImageForm, UploadForm
 from user_photos.models import Photo
 from user_photos.s3 import delete_photos
 
@@ -140,3 +140,48 @@
             msg)
 
     return redirect(ret_view, username)
+
+
+def hotlink_image(request):
+    """This view is responsible for accepting an image URL from a user and
+    converting it to a URL pointing into our S3 bucket if necessary.
+
+    We return a JSON object response to the client with the following name
+    & value pairs:
+            'error_msg': string error message if an error occurred
+            'url': the image URL as a string if success
+    """
+    ret = {'error_msg': '', 'url': ''}
+    status_code = 400
+
+    if not request.user.is_authenticated():
+        ret['error_msg'] = 'Please login to use this service'
+        return JsonResponse(ret, status=status_code)
+    if not request.is_ajax() or request.method != 'POST':
+        ret['error_msg'] = 'This method is not allowed'
+        return JsonResponse(ret, status=status_code)
+
+    if settings.USER_PHOTOS_ENABLED:
+        form = HotLinkImageForm(request.POST, request.FILES, user=request.user)
+        if form.is_valid():
+            try:
+                ret['url'] = form.save()
+                status_code = 200
+            except Exception as ex:
+                ret['error_msg'] = str(ex)
+                status_code = 500
+        else:
+            # gather form error messages
+            errors = []
+            non_field_errors = form.non_field_errors().as_text()
+            if non_field_errors:
+                errors.append(non_field_errors)
+            for field_errors in form.errors.values():
+                errors.append(field_errors.as_text())
+            ret['error_msg'] = '\n'.join(errors)
+    else:
+        ret['error_msg'] = 'Image linking is temporarily disabled'
+        status_code = 403
+
+    return JsonResponse(ret, status=status_code)
+