I doubt it'll get you penalised. It might be that you won't get credit for the link, but I can't see Goofle penalising you if you're a good site. Google needs good sites, don't forget, it has to display something. BB
These are good ideas, but they are pretty basic.... I think that this section should be more for people with concrete ideas and programs for building links.
Your assumption is correct. IMHO Google does not punish sites for off page factors, you simply can't help it.
Linkbaiting can also apply to a more subtle approach of not offering something for a link but making a post on your site that is not valuable but gets a ton of links to it. Example: purposely saying something that is not correct on a popular blog that will lead to many people digging it or linking to it. The article was linked to not because of its value, but because it causes people to want to say how the poster is wrong.