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BDSM practitioner Madelaine Thomas represents far from your standard tech founder. Following multiple occurrences of clients distributing her private explicit images, she was "angry enough to take action" and looked to tech solutions for answers.

"These were beautiful pictures, I'm unapologetic of the pictures, I'm ashamed of the way that they were weaponized by an individual who I have never met," said Madelaine.

Just over a year since founding her venture, Image Angel, which uses invisible forensic watermarking to identify abusers, has won several awards and was recommended as exemplary procedure in an independent pornography review recently.

This represents a significant shift from her background in providing consensual sexual encounters, working with clients in the world of kink and bondage.

A Widespread Issue

Intimate image abuse, commonly known as revenge porn, is a punishable crime with offenders facing up to two years in prison.

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

Madelaine, thirty-seven, explained victims endured feelings of humiliation. "In my view a lot of people will comment, 'you shared a saucy picture out on the internet, what do you anticipate?'," she said.

"I expect dignity, I expect consideration, and I expect trust, and I fail to understand why those are negotiable," she continued. "The fact that those images could be subsequently distributed in my community or with my loved ones and used to hurt them, that's beyond, that's not my choice, that's not an error on my part, that's someone being an abuser."

An Unconventional Path

Madelaine has been working as a professional dominatrix, primarily online, for 10 years and always found her work empowering and fulfilling. "It's me as a woman in control, a woman who is confident and powerful, giving my body as a gift to someone because I wish to," she said.

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

She welcomes being something of an anomaly in the technology sector. "I know that it's unconventional, it's crazy to think that someone who was a dominatrix is now a founder of a tech company, but it took someone who has been through it to know the flaws and the changes that were necessary," she stated.

She insisted she was not technically inclined 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 used by any online platform where people exchange photos, for instance social connection apps, social media and online sites.

When an image is accessed by a user, it is automatically embedded with an invisible forensic watermark which is unique to them.

This covert marker is encoded within the copy of the image itself and can survive screenshots, being edited and being re-captured with a secondary device.

It ensures that if you discover your image has been circulated non-consensually, providing the platform you used has the system integrated, the viewer's details will be hidden within the image and can be extracted by a forensic expert so legal steps can follow.

Currently, one service has implemented her tech and she's in discussions with several more.

Proven Technology, New Application

"This technology already exists in Hollywood, it already exists in live television so this is not brand new technology, it's just a novel use and a new system," explained Madelaine.

"And we've tested it, we're collaborating with a company that has 30 years experience in tech development so we know that this is solid and what we now need to do is deploy it widely," she continued.

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

Removing Stigma, Shifting Blame

An advocate from a support service commented she had seen directly the trauma and guilt intimate image abuse inflicted on victims.

"If that self-blame is compounded by a misinformed friend 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 support somebody is provided with is that they have not done anything wrong," she emphasized.

She added it was inspiring that Madelaine was using her experience to bring about change, saying: "It is really important to have this multi-layered approach towards tackling technology-enabled abuse, because a single solution is going to be able to solve this problem, no one helpline, it needs to be this integrated effort."

TV presenter Jess Davies was just 15 when photographs of her in a state of undress were circulated within her town. It was the first of several incidents Jess endured in her youth that would later inform her advocacy work.

"It required years, an excessive amount of time for someone to tell me, 'you are not to blame' and 'that shouldn't have happened'," said Jess.

She too is dedicated to eliminating the shame of intimate image abuse from the victims to the perpetrators. "There is no offence to willingly share an image to someone," stated Jess.

"However, it is illegal to distribute that without consent and I think that should always be where the responsibility is," she affirmed.