Yea, that would probably go unnoticed by Google but definitely not the owner of the original content. It would be best if you write your own content, fresh and interesting.
I agree with Annemendez. This can be a fairly GREY area so to say. I know everyone has their own OPINIONS, but it's always best to make sure You have Your BACK COVERED. Bottomline is that Google can do as they choose sort to speak. As mentioned above it is always best to cite Your source & if Possible contact the owner to make sure You receive his permission after explaining what it is you choose to do.. In most cases which Write doesn't like a LITTLE FREE PRESS...haha =) If Your busy & have no time to write Your content than hire someone that can save You the time & trouble. For example someone that writes...Hey what do You know? I write too..haha..;-) Kindest Regards, Steve
Use copyscape to check if your content is original, if you need to rewrite, make sure you get it to at least 50% uniqueness.
google don't penalize because of duplicate contents in your website. But, your it will effect to your SERP
We can use copyscape to find out whether our site content been duplicated or not. No idea how Google gives weightage to two pages having same content, sometimes the duplicated page may perform well on SERPs. If that is the case you can report to Google by filing a DMCA complaint against them to Google.