Ange Lavoipierre
Ange Lavoipierre is the national technology reporter for ABC News. They're also the host and EP of Schmeitgeist, an ABC podcast exploring trends and phenomena in tech and internet culture. Previously, she presented the ABC's first daily news podcast, The Signal.
Ange has been an ABC journalist for 15 years, filing for news and current affairs programs ranging from triple j's Hack to Background Briefing. You can follow Ange on X or Threads at @angelavoipierre, or contact her securely on Proton Mail.
Latest by Ange Lavoipierre
Cybercriminals are selling the sensitive data of almost 13 million Australians — for just $25,000
By national technology reporter Ange Lavoipierre
Cybersecurity experts have found advertisements claiming to re-sell highly sensitive data of millions of Australians, stolen from eScripts provider MediSecure, on the dark web, and now it's half price.
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analysis:The global tech crash opened like a Hollywood disaster film. So, how does it end?
By national technology reporter Ange Lavoipierre
Friday afternoon felt frighteningly similar to the 12-minute mark in a disaster movie. The difference is that in the movie, a villain is pulling the strings, but in reality, the culprit was far closer to home.
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analysis:Is Australia snoozing through the 'largest gold rush in the history of capitalism'?
Experts say AI is the "largest gold rush in the history of capitalism", and that Australia is falling behind. But there's something else we're also trailing the pack on: the time it takes to manage privacy settings on websites.
MediSecure 'not in a financial position' to identify 12.9m Australians who had data stolen
By national technology reporter Ange Lavoipierre
eScripts provider MediSecure has revealed 12.9 million Australians had personal data stolen in a cyber breach earlier this year, making it one of the largest data hacks in Australian history.
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analysis:Should you post photos of your child on social media? Two parents explain their decision
The discovery of photos of Australian children in a gargantuan dataset being used to train leading AI models has given rise to a blame game and some divisive questions.
The world's biggest AI models were trained using images of Australian kids, and their families had no idea
By national technology reporter Ange Lavoipierre
The privacy of Australian children is being violated on a large scale, with their personal images — and sometimes their names and locations — being used to train the AI powering most of the world's image-generators.
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analysis:AI execs are openly acknowledging some creative jobs may cease to exist, while McDonalds is handing its drive-thru back to the humans
On the very first day of public hearings for the much-vaunted Joint Select Committee on Social Media and Australian Society, eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant compared banning children younger than 16 from social media to banning them from the ocean.
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analysis:Australians are still suss on AI-made news, while Meta steams ahead on using our content to train its algorithm
This week in tech news, a global survey shows Australians are less comfortable with AI-generated news than the rest of the world, while Meta navigates the next steps in rolling out its AI trial and the US Surgeon-General calls for social media warning labels for teens.
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analysis:Ding dong, Apple has finally arrived at the AI party. So what did it bring?
Apple is finally making its big AI move, and it matters more than most flashy big tech launches for two reasons.
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analysis:What, did you think the battle between eSafety and X was over? Sit down. We're not even halfway
Most of the country has bought cheap tickets to the hotly-anticipated action blockbuster, eSafety v Elon Musk, filmed on location at the Australian Federal Court.
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ABC and Australian news outlets are in the crosshairs of a pro-Russian influence operation
By national technology reporter Ange Lavoipierre
A pro-Russian campaign is targeting Australian news organisations, including the ABC, according to international researchers.
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Many of us spend hours a day in a 'second world' on our phones. What's it really doing to our mental health?
By national technology reporter Ange Lavoipierre and the Specialist Reporting Team's Loretta Florance
The rise of social media and smartphones has coincided with an accelerating decline in teenagers' mental health — and researchers are trying to figure out whether the technology is to blame.
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analysis:Something very weird just happened in the eSafety vs X case
The eSafety Commissioner's fight against X over videos of the Wakeley stabbing just got messier, with two new groups from the other side of the world granted leave to join the case.
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Elon Musk's X loses key fight in hate speech battle with Australian Muslim group
By Lexy Hamilton-Smith and national technology reporter Ange Lavoipierre
Social media company X, formerly Twitter, has lost a precedent-setting fight over whether it's legally responsible for its activities in Australia.
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analysis:Deepfakes in an Australian election campaign would be legally fine, and OpenAI benches its flirty new chatbot voice
This week in tech news, OpenAI drops a new chatbot voice bearing a striking resemblance to Scarlett Johansson's, federal parliament discusses laws on political deepfakes, and the internet continues to be a terrifying place to be a teenager.
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Mum should have 'thrown my computer out the window', says porn addict, but warns age verification won't work
By national technology reporter Ange Lavoipierre
Age verification technology could be used to restrict children's access to online porn, certain games and even social media, but will "tech savvy" kids find a way around it? And what does it mean for the rest of the population?
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analysis:First porn, then social media? How age verification tech could cross over
The timing of South Australia's announcement of a social media ban suggests that the federal government's plan to introduce age verification for porn could easily be expanded — and is it any surprise?
eSafety Commissioner loses injunction fight with X over Wakeley stabbing video
By national technology reporter Ange Lavoipierre
The Federal Court has chosen not to extend a temporary order for social media company X, formerly Twitter, to hide videos of a Sydney terrorist stabbing globally.
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analysis:The difficulty of age verification for porn, Open AI's search threat, and the most mysterious song on the internet
In this week's round-up of tech news, a closer inspection reveals the tricky aspects of implementing age verification for porn, OpenAI is due to launch its own search tool and Reddit sleuths seek out the origins of the most mysterious song on the internet.
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The biggest tech court case in Australian history you've never heard of
By national technology reporter Ange Lavoipierre
Google and Apple are being dragged through the courts around the world and the case has finally hit Australia. Courtrooms have heard how the tech giants are quietly earning billions in commissions from smartphone users. Here’s what could happen if they lose the fight here.
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analysis:Could X be banned from your phone? The worst-case scenario for Elon Musk
By national technology reporter Ange Lavoipierre
In a worst-case scenario for Elon Musk, could Australia ban his platform if he refuses to take down all videos of the Wakeley church stabbing?
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analysis:The unintended consequences of Elon Musk's Bart Simpson moment and surprising bugs in Meta's new AI chatbot
In this week's round-up of the best, worst and strangest in tech news, Elon Musk chucks a Bart Simpson in — figuratively — mooning the Australian government, and Meta's new AI claims it has a child.
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analysis:How does an ideologically motivated lie travel from alt-right internet backwaters to a national newsroom?
In the information vacuum immediately following the mass stabbing at Bondi Junction over the weekend, the alt-right exploited the opportunity to spread disinformation and hatred on a favourite, lawless social media platform.
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How an iPhone text 'bug' sparked global speculation that Apple staff were staging a small protest over Palestine
By national technology reporter Ange Lavoipierre
When iPhone users who have downloaded the latest software update type in the word "Jerusalem", they will see a prompt for the Palestinian flag emoji. Here's why that may have happened.
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analysis:Spooky theories on the big-bad-almost hack and an ugly window into the world of 'alt social media'
Australians are on track for a government-issued digital ID. Most people seem relaxed, but it's the number one story on "alt social media".