February 17, 201214 yr Could really use your feedback / thoughts... My best client, a small commercial electronics installation company, provided me with a bunch of written content to add to his site that is 100% plagiarized. I just discussed the importance of NOT using plagiarized written content or images a few days ago when he wanted me to just "pull some images from Google images" for his site, and how easy it is to detect plagiarism these days and the possible consequences (cease and assist letters, host temporarily shutting down your site, etc.). He provided over a page of written content for one of his pages and it's pretty much taken right off another website word for word, from first to last paragraph. I'm a graphic designer by trade (and also do copywriting including SEO web content) and also fairly new to freelancing on my own, and have recently fought my own battle against someone stealing my content and artwork and I feel strongly about it. Should I just tell him I can't knowingly add plagiarized content to his site, I don't feel it's good business...or just let it go and let him deal with the consequences when they come? Have any of you ever dealt with this before?
February 17, 201214 yr Should I just tell him I can't knowingly add plagiarized content to his site, I don't feel it's good business... No. I'd tell him you can't assist in his copyright infringement because it's a crime, and cancel his project effective immediately. He can't plead ignorance because you've already told him about it. Either cancel the project immediately, or re-spec to include a CMS and he can commit his own copyright theft without your involvement. Of course, then there's nothing to stop you having a quiet word with the source of the copy... (Scratch that, bit unethical) Edited February 17, 201214 yr by Renaissance-Design
February 17, 201214 yr Author Thanks so much Chris for the quick reply! I guess I know what I need to do, just needed some reassurance before I confront him. And forgive my ignorance, but what is a CMS?
February 17, 201214 yr I'd go with what Chris said or if you can't afford to lose the client then just be honest with him and say you can't ethically (or legally) put stolen content on his site. Whatever you do, it's quite plain to see you're not happy with the situation so you should not have to work in an uncomfortable situation.
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