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Professional dominatrix Madelaine Thomas represents far from your standard tech founder. After multiple occurrences of individuals leaking her intimate photographs, she felt "angry enough to do something about it" and looked to tech solutions for a solution.

"These were beautiful pictures, I'm unapologetic of the pictures, I'm ashamed of the way that they were used against me by someone who I have never met," stated Madelaine.

Little over a year after founding her company, Image Angel, which uses covert digital tracking to identify perpetrators, has won several awards and was recommended as exemplary procedure in an government-commissioned study recently.

This marks quite a departure from her background in offering BDSM services, working with clients in the world of kink and bondage.

The Pervasive Problem

Intimate image abuse, often referred to as image-based abuse, is a punishable crime with perpetrators facing up to two years in prison.

It is not at all an issue exclusively faced by those in the sex industry. A report indicates that approximately 1.42% of the UK female population is affected by this form of abuse each year.

Madelaine, 37, said survivors endured shame and stigma. "In my view a lot of people will comment, 'you put a saucy picture out on the internet, what do you anticipate?'," she said.

"I demand dignity, I expect respect, and I expect confidence, and I don't see why those are negotiable," she added. "The reality that those images could be then shared in my community or with people I love and used to hurt them, that's beyond, that's not my choice, that's not an error on my part, that's someone committing abuse."

A Unique Journey

Madelaine has been working as a dominatrix, primarily online, for a decade and always found her work empowering and fulfilling. "It's me as a dominant woman, a woman who is confident and powerful, offering my body as a treat to someone of my own volition," she described.

"People think it's strange but I view it similarly to a nutritionist or an accountant providing a service," she remarked.

She embraces being something of an anomaly in the technology sector. "I understand that it's unconventional, 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 changes 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, investigation and "consulting experts" who know about tech.

Understanding the Tech Solution

Image Angel can be implemented on any digital service where people share images, for instance social connection apps, social media and websites.

When an image is accessed by a user, it is seamlessly tagged with an invisible forensic watermark which is specific to that viewer.

This covert marker is embedded into the digital file of the image itself and can withstand screen shots, being altered and being photographed with a secondary device.

It ensures that if you find out your image has been circulated without your consent, as long as the platform you posted it on has the system integrated, the viewer's details will be encoded in the image and can be extracted by a forensic expert so action can be taken.

Currently, one service has implemented her tech and she's in talks with many others.

Proven Technology, New Application

"This technology already exists in the film industry, it is employed in sports broadcasting so this is not an untested concept, it's just a new application and a different framework," said Madelaine.

"And we've tested it, we're collaborating with a company that has decades of expertise in tech development so we are confident that this is solid and what we now need to do is test it at scale," she continued.

She said she believed the technology would also act as a deterrent to would-be intimate image abusers.

Changing the Narrative

An advocate from a leading helpline said she had seen first-hand the trauma and guilt intimate image abuse caused for victims.

"If that self-blame is reinforced by a misinformed friend or professional who says 'well, why did you take those images in the first place?' that guilt can really be deepened so it's crucial that the support somebody is provided with is that they have not done anything wrong," she emphasized.

She added it was fantastic that Madelaine was leveraging her ordeal to bring about change, adding: "It is vital to have this multi-layered approach towards tackling tech facilitated abuse, because a single solution is going to be able to solve this problem, not just support services, it needs to be this integrated effort."

TV presenter Jess Davies was just 15 when images of her in her underwear were circulated within 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, too long for someone to tell me, 'it wasn't your fault' and 'that shouldn't have happened'," said Jess.

She too is passionate about eliminating the shame of this crime from the victims to the perpetrators. "There is no offence to consensually send an image to someone," stated Jess.

"However, it is illegal to circulate that without consent and I think that should invariably be where the responsibility is," she concluded.