Chinese tech giants Huawei and ZTE have effectively been banned from providing equipment to Australia’s 5G mobile network, due to national security concerns. 

Last year, Australia’s government brought in rules requiring telecommunications companies to ensure they protect networks from unauthorised interference or access that might threaten national security.

SEE ALSO: President Trump signs NDAA, banning government use of ZTE and Huawei technology

On Thursday, Australia’s Home Affairs office sought to enforce those rules, citing the increased complexity of 5G’s network architecture compared to current technologies. 

The government said that 5G’s network architecture “provides a way to circumvent traditional security controls,” and that it hadn’t found a method which could sufficiently protect users from those risks.

It singled out companies who might be subject to government meddling as a national security concern, but didn’t name ZTE or Huawei explicitly — although Huawei confirmed their inclusion in the ban on Twitter.

“The Government considers that the involvement of vendors who are likely to be subject to extrajudicial directions from a foreign government that conflict with Australian law, may risk failure by the carrier to adequately protect a 5G network from unauthorised access or interference,” the statement reads.

The U.S. government last week officially banned agencies from purchasing or using certain telecommunications and surveillance products from Chinese tech companies, like Huawei and ZTE. 

It followed warnings from heads of the FBI and CIA, who expressed concern about the threat of espionage from its phones earlier this year. 

In a statement via Twitter, Huawei said it was “an extremely disappointing result for consumers.” The chairman of Huawei’s Australian arm, John Lord, responded to claims the company was a risk to national security.

“We believe that companies like Huawei are privately owned, not owned by any committee or any government, and should be looked at and put into a competitive tendering,” he told ABC News.

“We’re happy to have our equipment tested, we’re happy to have it analysed.”

Telecommunications company Vodafone Australia said in a statement via email that while it agrees national security “is paramount,” the sudden decision is of concern.

“This decision, which has been dropped on the eve of the 5G auction, creates uncertainty for carriers’ investment plans,” the statement added. 

“This decision is a significant change which fundamentally undermines Australia’s 5G future, and we will consider what it means for our business.”

When Tenaja Jordan came out to her parents at 17 years old, they kicked her out of their home. As a teenager, she was still considered a child in the eyes of the state, and was immediately placed into New York City’s child welfare system.

Following the trauma of the situation, one question remained on Jordan’s mind: Where was she going to live?

Jordan made her needs clear to child welfare workers: She didn’t want to live on Staten Island or with a homophobic guardian. But that’s exactly where she ended up.

“Her first words to me were, ‘Did any of those lesbians at the children’s center hit on you?’” Jordan tells Mashable about her guardian. “ACS put me exactly where I didn’t want to be.”

Advocates say there’s a lot wrong with a system that desperately needs to get it right.

Jordan, now an adult who has worked in the foster care system herself, isn’t unique in her struggle to navigate child welfare. Foster care has long been criticized for failing to meet the needs of children, from allowing kids to age out of the system without safety nets in place, to struggling to adequately support youth and families.

Advocates like Jordan say there’s a lot wrong with a system that desperately needs to get it right.

According to the latest statistics available, as of September 2014, more than 415,000 children and teens were in the foster care system at any given time. These young people live in temporary housing provided by the state, are cared for by relatives or unrelated foster parents, or are placed in other residential facilities like group homes. And they’re constantly frustrated with a system that feels unmanageable.

SEE ALSO: These LGBTQ homeless youth are getting free glasses. It could change their lives.

But getting to the root of frustration with child welfare systems isn’t easy. Advocates say there are a lot of complicated and intertwining factors that make foster care ultimately unsuccessful for many who enter the system.

Consider this a critical starting point to reframe how we think of child welfare. Here are six problems advocates say hinder foster care in the U.S., and what you can do to make a change.

1. Group homes are too often a go-to.

More than 56,000 children in child welfare systems are living in group settings — and advocates say that number is far too high. Many argue children have more success when placed in family settings from the start, and that defaulting to group settings is a troubling practice.

“We believe that all kids who have to be removed from their families should be placed with other families.”

“We believe all kids who have to be removed from their families should be placed with other families,” Tracey Feild, director of the Child Welfare Strategy Group at the Annie E. Casey Foundation, tells Mashable. “That’s the most important criterion for placement — or it should be.”

Aside lacking in adequate support for children in care, group homes also make little financial sense. Group settings are about seven to 10 times more expensive per child than placement with a family.

But, Feild admits, there’s one major obstacle when it comes to getting children out of group care: There are rarely enough foster families to achieve that goal.

Denise Goodman, a child welfare professional and consultant with the Annie E. Casey Foundation, adds that there’s often a dependency on group homes for teenagers in particular, because “not enough people want to step up for teens.”

What you can do to help: Become a foster parent, if the new role fits your life and your family.

“What we want is to stabilize youth in one family — and have that family understand what they are going through, and address and meet their needs,” Feild says.

To learn more about the process to become a foster parent, state-by-state, visit here.

2. Teens age out of the system without proper support.

When children, especially teens, are placed into group homes, they’re denied the ability to connect with a permanent, adoptive family. Without those connections, they’re likely to age out of the system without a supportive network in place.

“At a certain point, a decision is made that a child is old enough that we can let them age out,” Feild says. “Now, we are realizing that that’s a mistake.”

And the realities of aging out of the system are devastating for youth. One in five young people who age out of the system will become homeless. One in four will be involved in the justice system within two years of leaving foster care. And it’s estimated that more than 40% of youth who age out won’t complete high school.

“The best independent living, transitional support teens in foster care can have is a family.”

“The best independent living, transitional support teens in foster care can have is a family,” Goodman says. “There wasn’t a whole bunch of us who were truly ready to be 100% on our own at 18.”

Goodman adds that many jurisdictions have recently extended foster care beyond age 18 to age 21, because states are starting to understand that young adults are in need of much more support from caregivers and case workers.

“Even kids who have grown up with families and have gone to college — very few can be independent at 21,” Feild says. “And we expect these kids to go off and succeed on their own? It’s unlikely and unfair to think that’s going to happen.”

What you can do to help: Become a mentor for foster youth in your community — and be a vocal advocate for stronger transitional measures for young adults aging out.

“You need a connection to an adult that is going to be there for you,” Jordan says. “Young adults need that kind of mentorship and support.”

To become a mentor, reach out to agencies in your state or local families in your community that could use support. To learn more about the challenges facing young adults aging out of the system, read first-person accounts of the crisis here.

3. Foster parents need more support to achieve success.

Guardians need more support, too, which Feild says is essential for foster parents to work through any difficulties they may experience.

“An entire community needs to have a positive attitude toward people who do this difficult … work of becoming foster parents.”

“They are often taking kids who have experienced trauma in their early years,” she says. “They have to be trained about what’s going on in a child’s life, and how to best address those concerns.”

Though advocates say family placement is ideal over group homes, children and teens in the system — especially those who are LGBTQ — are often reluctant to leave congregate care because many foster care families can’t meet their needs the way group care workers can.

With almost half of all children in the child welfare system living in foster homes with non-relatives, Feild says early support while families are forming relationships is especially key to curbing disruptions in placement. And because it’s common for foster kids to hop from placement to placement, addressing that trend through child and parental support is crucial.

What you can do to help: Support foster families in your community in big and small ways — tutor, babysit or simply ask how you can make their lives a little easier. Goodman says there needs to be an “all hands on deck” mentality to support foster families, especially since not every family can be a foster family.

“An entire community needs to have a positive attitude toward people who do this difficult, challenging but ultimately rewarding work of becoming foster parents,” she says.

Organizations like the National Foster Parent Association recruit, train and support foster parents in a more structured manner. You can donate to its efforts here.

4. There isn’t enough focus on reunification.

We often talk about adoption or aging out as the only two options after foster care, but reunification with a parent is an option often overlooked. It’s actually common, with about half of all youth who leave foster care becoming reunited with their parents.

“We need to be saying, ‘Lend a helping hand to children and their families by becoming a foster parent.’”

But, advocates say, the system as a whole often ignores reunification as a viable option when thinking about a young person’s future. Feild says that’s a major misstep, especially because children who are removed from their families don’t necessarily want to be.

For these youth, Goodman adds, talking about foster care with reunification in mind is essential.

“We aren’t ‘giving this child the gift of a family’; this child has a family,” Goodman says. “Family needs to be part of the conversation. We need to be saying, ‘Lend a helping hand to children and their families by becoming a foster parent.’”

What you can do to help: Reframe how you talk and think about foster care. Don’t assume parents who have children taken away are forever unable to provide for those children.

Abuse or neglect aren’t always the issues at hand. The realities of mass incarceration for minor convictions — especially for black families — may place a child out of parental care, or a family struggling financially may temporarily lose the ability to take care of their children.

There are many reasons for lapses in the ability to care for a child that can be solved, allowing families to move forward. Let reunification become one of the end goals you talk about when speaking about foster care, not just adoption or aging out.

5. Children’s needs often go unheard.

For many children in the foster care system, their frustrations stem from one main source: They feel their voices go unheard.

“I do think that sometimes we aren’t very good at listening to kids or engaging with kids,” Goodman says. “Some people just don’t value the youth voice — and I think we should.”

“Some people just don’t value the youth voice — and I think we should.”

Sometimes, that voice can be angry or frustrated, leading adults to cut off communication and leave a child’s needs unmet, simply because they don’t like how they’re being articulated. But both Goodman and Feild agree that anger, especially when dealing with a complex foster care system and past trauma, is understandable.

“You’ve got kids who have had terrible things happen to them — so bad that they’ve had to be removed from their families,” Feild says. “They have a lot going on and a lot to deal with, along with growing up and becoming independent.”

What you can do to help: Be someone who listens to children and teens in foster care — and encourage others to do the same. An adult advocating for an unheard child acts as an amplifier for that child’s needs.

6. The system is filled with too many rules, regulations, and players.

Some children may feel frustrated with the foster care system because they’re constantly under surveillance. There are often a lot of players in the lives of foster children: guardians, advocates, social workers, courts and more.

“You have to go through 12 layers of people to find the right person to talk to about something,” Feild says. “You are bound by the rules of the system — and they are not the normal rules a parent would have for a child.”

“You are bound by the rules of the system — and they are not the normal rules a parent would have for a child.”

Feild says seemingly normal tasks for foster children and teens, like getting a driver’s license or playing on a sports team, require extensive approval and paperwork. As a result, it’s easy for children to feel like their lives are impossible to navigate.

“That’s a lot of people controlling your life and making decisions for you,” she says. “At least in a biological or adoptive family, you can have a dialogue about that.”

And for young people in foster care to assert themselves against these rules can be especially tricky. It often involves a lot of risk.

“[In the foster care system], there’s no room for error. If I’m a teenager and I make a stupid mistake, my foster parents may say to an agency, ‘Hey, move this kid,’” Feild says.

What you can do to help: Become a court-appointed special advocate for foster youth, if the new role fits your life. A special advocate in the courts ensures foster youth are getting all their legal needs met by getting to know those children and their situations, and then vocalizing their opinions of a positive and sensitive care plan in the courts.

To learn more about how to become a volunteer, visit here. 

To learn more about youth rights within the system, start with this breakdown.

With Snapchat, you can nail pranking from the comfort of your own phone.

The app, aside from being a great way to transform yourself into a cartoon dog, is a veritable prank playground — and after you pull off the perfect Snapchat prank, the evidence will be gone forever.

SEE ALSO: 20 food pranks that will give you trust issues

Snap away, pranking millennials.

1. Snap a picture of a beach stock photo, then pretend you’re on vacation.

Your acquaintances will wish they were at the real, not fake beach with you.

2. Confess a “big secret” in a one-second Snap.

They’ll know something happened, but they won’t be sure what.

3. Tell lots of people you’re going to take their photo, then take a video instead.

Then, create the ultimate April Fool’s Day snap story.

4. Take selfies near people so they think you’re photographing them.

Just be prepared for retaliation.

5. Announce a fake engagement in your Snap Story.

If you can’t find a ring, just use a celebrity Snap.

6. Announce your fake birthday in your Snap Story.

And rake in the congratulatory Facebook posts.

7. Send a Snap that looks like it’s for someone else.

Sit back and wait for the confused responses — or for someone to appear at your home with a bag of fertilizer.

8. Make viewers think their phone volume is broken by mouthing your words.

Tee hee.

Facebook is finally, ever-so-slightly curtailing one aspect of its creepy data gathering practices, and all it took was a threat from Apple. 

The social media and advertising conglomerate plans to remove its Onavo VPN app from the App Store after Apple warned the company that the app was in violation of its policies governing data gathering. So reports the Wall Street Journal, which notes that app should be gone by late Wednesday. 

SEE ALSO: After losing trust of its users, Facebook assigns them a ‘trustworthiness’ score

For those blissfully unaware, Onavo sold itself as a virtual private network that people could run “to take the worry out of using smartphones and tablets.” In reality, Facebook used data about users’ internet activity collected by the app to inform acquisitions and product decisions. 

Essentially, Onavo allowed Facebook to run market research on you and your phone, 24/7. It was spyware, dressed up and neatly packaged with a Facebook-blue bow. Data gleaned from the app, notes the Journal, reportedly played into the social media giant’s decision to start building a rival to the Houseparty app. Oh, and its decision to buy WhatsApp. 

In other words, Facebook seriously relied on the detailed look at users’ web habits that Onavo provided. That specific arrow in the company’s surreptitious quiver will soon be cast aside — sort of. 

Importantly, it’s not like the app itself is going anywhere for the untold number of people who’ve already downloaded it. And it’s still available on the Google Play store as of the time of this writing. (Just a little tip for all your Android users out there: Don’t download it.)

While the app’s removal from the App Store is certainly unwelcome news for Facebook, it is likely not surprising. The threatened Apple ban and subsequent Facebook retreat, after all, didn’t come out of the blue. In June of this year, Apple updated its App Store guidelines to explicitly ban “[collecting] information about which other apps are installed on a user’s device for the purposes of analytics or advertising/marketing.”

As that’s more or less exactly the point of Onavo, people saw the writing on the wall.

Now Facebook will just have to resort to all its other ways of gathering data about its users to determine which burgeoning competitor to crush beneath its hoodie-bedazzled boot. Oh yeah, and all the data it will continue to gather from the misguided people still using Onavo, of course.  

In a strange way, dick pics have defined this weird, at times beautiful, but mostly horrifying place we call the world wide web.

I mean is there any online experience more universal than encountering a penis you never expected nor wanted to see? It’s perhaps only surpassed in its pervasiveness by trolling.

A 2017 market research survey by YouGov, an online polling company, found that 53 percent of millennial women have received one. (The online survey was weighted to represent U.S. adults over 18.) Dick pics are such an embedded aspect of our online experience, in fact, that there’s even a blockchain for that. 

Dick pics weren’t even a possibility before widespread internet and cellphone access. Sure, really committed folks could snail mail penis photos. But the distinct experience of suddenly receiving digital schlong in the palm of your hand is pretty much exclusive to the smartphone age.

You don’t even have to be a heterosexual woman, a gay man, bi, or romantically interested or involved with someone who owns male genitalia in order to encounter dick pics. Spend any amount of time on services like Chatroulette or OKCupid, and there they are: dicks. Everywhere.

SEE ALSO: How porn can help stop the toxic sexual culture that led to #MeToo

We’re in the golden age of penis portraiture.

We’re in the golden age of penis portraiture. But unfortunately, we only get to talk about the negative side of it, when dick pic culture can actually be very intricate, multilayered, sex-positive, and feminist (more on that later).

So, we’ve helpfully put together a complete guide to getting a handle on dick pics, both of the solicited and unsolicited variety. Without further ado, some rules:

1. No, it is never OK to send an unsolicited dick pic

Let’s get this one out of the way. There is never ANY reason to send an unsolicited dick pic. We don’t care if you’re just doing it for laughs. It doesn’t matter if you think you can reasonably assume the other person is willing.

Even if it’s with someone who’s already given prior consent or has expressed interest in receiving a dick pic, you still can’t know where in the world they are at the moment you decide to surprise them with some unrequested wang.

Remember: You’re inherently dealing with a digital interaction when it comes to dick pics. That means consent is even harder to establish without an explicit and enthusiastic, “Yes!” Lots of communication can be lost without visual body language cues, and tone is easily misinterpreted. 

Always make sure your schlong shot is desired before proceeding. And for parties who want the D pic: Don’t be afraid to respectfully ask (as long as you’re clear that “no” is absolutely an OK response.)

2. When it’s OK to send a dick pic it can be fantastic

Now that we’ve established the basic concept of consent, let’s dig into the less talked about phenomenon: Lots of people (yes, including lots of women) actually love receiving solicited dick pics! 

Don’t believe us? Well, Bustle recently wrote an article about the growing phenomenon of dick appreciation threads. One redditor from r/LadyBoner, Kate, explained that, “I don’t like porn because I have to see the men’s stupid faces, whereas with a dick pic, I can imagine whatever I want or even find a dick pic that looks like my boyfriend’s.” 

“I don’t like porn because I have to see the men’s stupid faces.”

For her, it’s even empowering. It feels like a reclamation, she said. “It’s an act of choice and agency, unlike when unsolicited dick pics are sent to me … Dicks are fantastic when I’ve consented to interact with them.”

Here’s why dick pics can be an awesomely sex positive and feminist experience: In a world where sending nudes via Snapchat is practically considered a formal “next step” in a millennial relationship, it can feel really weird if it’s only one-sided. Uneven distribution of exposure between the two parties can lead to a sense of uneven vulnerability.

Nudes should be a mutually agreed upon, enjoyable, and equal experience. It’s an opportunity to appreciate and explore each other from a distance (if you protect yourself properly, which we’ll get into later). If you’re sexting with visual aids, dick pics are integral to that balance.

However, not all dick pics are created equally. Which brings us to …

3. There’s definitely an art to taking a great dick pic

I’m not gonna lie: Having never possessed a dick myself, there’s a limit to my advice on the mechanics of taking a good dick pic. For that, check out this great guide from the creator of the blog Critique My Dick Pic (NSFW, obvs), Madeleine Holden. To summarize: Stop freaking out about size, no “log shots,” and setting/production value is important.

However, as a receiver of many D pics (both solicited and unsolicited), I do consider myself something of a connoisseur of the art form. Here’s what to know about creating a masterpiece:

• One of the sexiest aspects of a dick pic is the sheer thrill of receiving one. It’s a naughty digital secret you now share together. Like the appeal of getting your own private striptease or sexting, it’s personal, just for you, and a pretty high level of intimacy for a bunch of pixels on a screen. Really makes a lady feel special, you know?

• Confidence in your dick pic is super sexy — but arrogance makes us want to gag (and, no, not like the porn stars). Do not use dick pics as a platform to boast and showboat. Which goes hand-in-hand with …

• When it comes to pics, size truly doesn’t matter. For one, you can’t even accurately judge in a photo. And if you’re throwing in an object for scale in a dick pic (like a banana — yes, I swear to god men do this), you’re already failing.

• What matters is making your dick pic personal. No two dicks are alike, and your partner asked to see yours for a reason. It’s because they already like you, which means they probably already like your dick.

• That segues perfectly into our next hot tip: NEVER REPURPOSE A DICK PIC YOU ALREADY SENT SOMEONE ELSE. It is painfully obvious when you’re using a stock photo equivalent of a dick pic. Don’t think we won’t notice, either. Like, damn, Easter’s coming up but there’s a Christmas tree in your photo …

• I know the phrase “dick pic” rolls off the tongue (get it?!), but if you’re comfortable, you might want to try a dick vid. That invites all sorts of new possibilities for creativity and intimacy, that you should always discuss with your partner first.

• Have fun. Sending nudes should be about making each other feel wanted, so only dick pic when both of you feel great about what’s happening.

• There’s a lot of trust that goes into sending a nude. And don’t underestimate the need to protect yourself, your data, and your schlong. Check out these safety tips.

4. How to clap back at an unsolicited dick pic

It’s hard to describe just how violating it feels to get an unsolicited dick pic. You can’t ignore the negative aspects of non-consensual dick pics, and the disturbed psychology of individuals who do it.

https://player.vimeo.com/video/250543215

It’s ludicrous that, while we have laws prohibiting flashers IRL, virtually assaulting people on the internet has no real consequence (besides perhaps getting kicked off a platform). So we recommend shaking off the heebie jeebies of this experience by reclaiming that unwanted penis.

There’s lots of different forms of revenge. One woman threatened to send any dick pics she received on Tinder to the perpetrator’s mom (and actually followed through with it). Others choose witty retorts. There’s even an app to help you do just that.

Artist and activist Whitney Bell reclaimed the experience of receiving unsolicited dick pics by turning them into an art gallery called I Didn’t Ask for This: A Lifetime of Dick Pics, and calling attention to harassment in the digital space. “Professional penis photographer” Soraya Doolbaz took a different artistic approach, with her high-end dicture gallery advocating for better solicited dick pics, while also stripping this symbol of patriarchal power through humor.

So do whatever feels cathartic and right for you, and grab that horrifying unwanted dick by the literal balls. Go wild. Get MS Paint involved. Photoshop a “This Is What A Feminist Looks Like” t-shirt onto it, and send it right back.

Because some fool just sent you their genitals. Abuse the hell outta that power.

https://player.vimeo.com/video/146182225

5. But most importantly: Protect yourself first

We’ve had some fun, but the hard truth (no pun intended this time), is that clapping back can lead to even more harassment. That’s a risk you don’t have to take if you don’t want to. And there’s other, safer forms of recourse. 

Like we said, there’s little to no legal consequences for it in America (though officials are trying to change that in places like Australia, Canada, and Britain). 

But the best options is to block the person immediately: Whether barring a phone number, Instagram or Snapchat account, un-matching on Tinder, disabling open DMs on Twitter, or changing your Airdrop settings to “Contacts Only.”

On most platforms, you can and should report them too (though the results are not always stellar.) Many dating websites even removed the ability to exchange photos altogether to fix the issue. But the following apps explicitly classify harassment like unsolicited dick pics as a reportable offense: Twitter, Facebook, Tinder, Instagram, Reddit, and Snapchat.

So when it comes to dick pics, practice safe sexting. And above all, make sure your virtual junk is only sliding into those DMs who want them.