There is a difference, in my opinion, between describing something in words and lifting the exact same words and using them without permission. If someone wanted to use my articles on the web as the basis for their own articles, but re-worded things (and added material and interpretation of their own) I don't think it would be a violation. But on the occasion where people have lifted my WORDS wholesale, without attribution or permission, I've notified them and their host that I wanted the material taken down.
But again, it was my words, not merely the information contained in those words, that they were copying.