Basically, a dev wrote a game without ads. Then he realized that sites were stealing it, by embedding the game in an iFrame on their own site. An iFrame is simply a way for a site to embed another site within itself. Just like how YouTube videos can be embedded and watched on other sites. The other sites were plagiarizing this game then wrapping the game page in ads.

So the dev added some code to check if it was in an iFrame. If the game detected that it was in an iFrame, it would display Goatse instead of the actual game. So a bunch of game sites suddenly had active links to Goatse.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Since its launch last year, Simmons says he has attracted a “steady group of daily active users” for Sqword, which involves placing letters sequentially in a 5×5 grid to make as many valid words as possible.

(tldr: 5 sentences skipped)

As of press time, we found at least a couple of aggregator sites that apparently haven’t noticed their stolen word game has been replaced with one of the rudest images on the Internet.

Many other sites apparently have noticed the change and have simply shifted to embed the (equally stolen) Pokémon-themed Sqwordle on pages that were showing the shock image just days before.

Simmons uses this case as a cautionary tale, not just for game thieves but for any web developer that hosts external content on their site.

“If you are using an iFrame to display a site that isn’t yours, even for legitimate purposes, you have no control over that content—it can change at any time,” Simmons warns.

(tldr: 1 sentences skipped)

More than that, though, we think Simmons has opened up a completely new front in the never-ending war against plagiarists that look to profit off of the work of others.

(tldr: 1 sentences skipped)

The original article contains 384 words, the summary contains 197 words. Saved 49%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!