Signal could make NBA's tampering problem even harder to solve
Signal is reportedly becoming popular in the sports world.
While the free iOS and Android app—which enables encrypted texts, phone calls, and video chats between users as well as other security features like disappearing messages—has been a great tool for many journalists and human rights activists, its usage in the sports world is a tad more nefarious.
That's according to a new report from Yahoo! Sports that looks at how Signal, once a favorite app of the Trump White House, has spread throughout the sports world, particularly in collegiate athletics, the NBA, and the NFL.
The report touches on the fact that Signal allows participants to circumvent NCAA rules by allowing college players to chat with professional agents, and for public schools to "avoid detection from Freedom Of Information Act" requests from journalists. But it's the app's use in pro sports that is most intriguing.
Unsurprisingly, the report notes how Signal is now an incredibly popular app in the NBA, a league where accusations of tampering — players or teams trying to persuade other players to join them while the targets are still under contract with another team — have run rampant for years.
In 2019 alone there have been a few high-profile examples of alleged tampering. LeBron James' alleged wooing of Anthony Davis to the Lakers while Davis was still under contract with the New Orleans Pelicans was enough to earn a stern warning from the NBA. And when news of Kevin Durant's agreement to leave the Golden State Warriors for the Brooklyn Nets broke minutes before impending free agents were even allowed to talk to potential future teams, NBA commissioner Adam Silver could only throw up his hands.
The NBA did, in fact, seemingly strengthen those tampering rules ahead of the beginning of this season. But it has to enforce them, too. Among those new rules are the random auditing of five teams' communications between other teams and player agents, and a rule that states that "top team officials are required to save communications with agents for one year."
The league even sent out a reminder at the end of October that seemed aimed at those using Signal.
Tweet may have been deleted
The Yahoo! report adds, "A source with knowledge of the memo told Yahoo Sports the NBA also mandated a new rule: Team personnel may not use apps that auto-delete relevant communication."
Yahoo! goes on to add, though, that Signal wasn't specifically mentioned and that "as long as they don't auto-delete messages, teams are permitted to use apps like Signal."
So, in essence, Signal is still allowed as long as users don't auto-delete their messages, something the league actually has no way of enforcing.
If your response is the same as the famous Confused Nick Young meme, you're not alone.
Via GiphyUnless the NBA figures out a way to reallyenforce its tampering rules, teams and players are going to keep using Signal and similar apps.
As for the NFL, Yahoo's story focuses primarily on how the infamous destroyed cell phone from the New England Patriots' Deflategate scandal has inspired players and execs to start using Signal since it enables users to ensure messages disappear not just from the sender's phone but from the recipient's as well.
-
11 Telescopes Exploring The Magic of SpaceAstronomy Photographer of the Year 2022 finalists: All the otherworldly photosWyze security camera breach actually impacted 13,000 users, not 14Aiming for Atoms: The Art of Making Chips Smaller13 Unbelievable Underwater Wonders in FloridaApple is giving iMessage a massive security updateThe 8 best wireless earbuds for 2024: Compare AirPods Pro to cheaper optionsWhat excites 'Dune: Part 2' co[LLG] When compassion meets law: Lawyer defends goats, dogs, other helpless animalsNASA slammed DART spacecraft into an asteroid and filmed the crash
- ·Apple Watch 10 rumors: Everything we know so far
- ·Government shutdown update: Why Kevin McCarthy finally worked with the Democrats.
- ·Quantum batteries could charge by breaking our understanding of time
- ·21+ Programs to Analyze and Benchmark Your Hardware
- ·SpaceX Polaris Dawn mission: How to watch the launch
- ·Swiatek puts past Doha titles to the back of her mind
- ·What do we lose when influencers replace journalists on the red carpet?
- ·DP excludes human rights activist from candidacy, citing military service refusal
- ·DNC 2024 speech: Barack Obama and Michelle Obama have a superpower no other Democrat has.
- ·14 Plaques That Will Make You Smile
- ·There's hope yet: Clean energy advances that inspired us in 2023
- ·How USB Works: From 'Plug and Pray' to Being Everywhere
- ·两个改造提升项目进入收尾阶段
- ·Rendition: Gone But Not Forgotten
- ·Apple is giving iMessage a massive security update
- ·Betavolt says its diamond nuclear battery can power devices for 50 years
- ·I Deleted All My Social Accounts: Three Weeks Without Social Media
- ·Best of MWC 2024: The top phone, tablet, smart glasses, and more
- ·Only half of S. Koreans willing to marry: data
- ·提高职工肺结核防治意识,广东援疆驻三师工作队开展宣讲活动
- ·Best Home Depot Labor Day sale deals
- ·Most Anticipated PC Games of 2023
- ·There's hope yet: Clean energy advances that inspired us in 2023
- ·[BRIDGE TO AFRICA] Ties with Africa to grow with Korea’s support: Ivory Coast envoy
- ·Number Representations in Computer Hardware
- ·6 Relics of Forgotten Fast
- ·Upgrade Your Monitor, Not Your GPU
- ·9 Places to Experience the Turmoil of the French Revolution
- ·"Dirt
- ·Sad Pacquiao accepts his Olympic dream is over
- ·What Ever Happened to Flickr?
- ·9 Places to Experience the Turmoil of the French Revolution
- ·FM stresses S. Korea's role in protecting NK defectors overseas
- ·How to watch 'Palm Royale': When and where is it streaming?
- ·11 Places to See Tiny Trains
- ·Orbital reflectors could boost solar energy around dusk and dawn