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Professional dominatrix Madelaine Thomas embodies far from your standard tech founder. Following multiple instances of clients distributing her private explicit images, she felt "angry enough to do something about it" and looked to tech solutions for a solution.

"These were striking images, I'm unapologetic of the photographs, I'm ashamed of the manner that they were weaponized by an individual who I have never met," explained Madelaine.

Just over a year after founding her venture, Image Angel, which employs covert digital tracking to identify abusers, has garnered significant recognition and was cited as exemplary procedure in an government-commissioned study recently.

This marks a significant shift from her background in offering consensual sexual encounters, dominating clients in the world of BDSM.

A Widespread Issue

The non-consensual sharing of private images, commonly known as revenge porn, is a criminal offence with offenders facing up to two years in prison.

It is not at all an issue exclusively faced by those in the adult entertainment sector. A report indicates that around 1.42% of the women in the UK is impacted by intimate image abuse each year.

Madelaine, 37, said survivors lived with shame and stigma. "In my view a lot of people will say, 'you put a saucy picture out on the internet, what do you expect?'," she noted.

"I expect dignity, I expect consideration, and I expect confidence, and I fail to understand why those are up for debate," she continued. "The reality that those images could be subsequently distributed where I live or with people I love and employed to cause them pain, that's unacceptable, that's not my choice, that's not my mistake, that's someone being an abuser."

An Unconventional Path

Madelaine has been practicing as a professional dominatrix, primarily online, for 10 years and always found her work liberating and satisfying. "I am as a dominant woman, a woman who is confident and powerful, giving my body as a treat to someone because I wish to," she said.

"Some believe it's strange but I don't see it any differently to a nutritionist or an accountant providing a service," she added.

She welcomes being a unique figure in the world of tech. "I understand that it's bizarre, it's crazy to think that an individual who was a dominatrix is now a founder of a tech company, but it required someone who has experienced it firsthand to know the flaws and the modifications that were necessary," she stated.

She insisted she was not in the least bit techy and was able to build her company after many sleepless nights, research and "consulting experts" who understand tech.

Understanding the Tech Solution

Image Angel can be implemented on any online platform where people share images, for instance social connection apps, social networks and online sites.

When an image is accessed by a viewer, it is seamlessly tagged with an invisible forensic watermark which is unique to them.

This invisible watermark is encoded within the digital file of the image itself and can survive screen shots, being edited and being re-captured with a secondary device.

It ensures that if you find out your image has been circulated without your consent, as long as the service you posted it on has the technology embedded, the sharer's information will be hidden within the image and can be retrieved by a forensic expert so legal steps can follow.

Currently, one platform has adopted her tech and she's in discussions with many others.

Proven Technology, New Application

"The system is already in use in Hollywood, it is employed in sports broadcasting so this is not an untested concept, it's just a novel use and a new system," explained Madelaine.

"We have validated it, we're partnering with a firm that has 30 years experience in developing technology so we know that this is reliable and what we now need to do is deploy it widely," she added.

She said she hoped the technology would also act as a preventive measure to potential perpetrators.

Removing Stigma, Shifting Blame

An expert from a support service commented she had seen directly the panic, distress and self-blame this abuse inflicted on victims.

"If that self-blame is compounded by a uninformed acquaintance or service who says 'well, why did you take those images in the first place?' that guilt can really be deepened so it's really important that the response a victim receives is that they have not done anything wrong," she stated.

She added it was fantastic that Madelaine was leveraging her ordeal to create solutions, adding: "It is vital to have this comprehensive strategy towards addressing technology-enabled abuse, because no one tool is going to be able to tackle this alone, not just support services, it needs to be this multi-layered response."

TV presenter Jess Davies was just 15 when images of her in her underwear were shared around her local community. It was the beginning of multiple violations Jess endured in her youth that would later inform her advocacy work.

"It took so long, an excessive amount of time for someone to say to me, 'it wasn't your fault' and 'that was wrong'," recalled Jess.

She too is passionate about removing the stigma of this crime from the victims to the offenders. "It isn't a crime to willingly share an photo to someone," stated Jess.

"But it is a crime to circulate that non-consensually and I think that should always be where the blame is," she concluded.