Plagiarizing Web Copy

I almost used the word "content," but I'm having an issue with that term.  It's becoming really generic.

Recently the company I work for took on a new web site client.  Total redesign to optimize technically for search engines– really just Google, that's all anyone cares about anyway– and I to write "content."  (I think content just fills up space, whereas writing is actually something meaningful.

Well on the existing website were instances of plagiarized content our client was using to sell his services.  Not a not-for-profit site, or an educational site, but a business.

It occurred to me that the internet is changing how people think about stealing, borrowing and sharing.  I mean duplicate content, the same marketing verbage exists on sites all over the place.

I am convinced that if the written text exists on a webpage, many people do not consider the act of copy and paste to be plagiarizing.  Really.  It's really changed how we look at things hasn't it, Orville?