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BDSM practitioner Madelaine Thomas embodies not at all your average tech founder. Following repeated instances of individuals leaking her intimate photographs, she felt "angry enough to take action" and turned to technology for a solution.

"These were beautiful pictures, I'm not ashamed of the photographs, I'm embarrassed of the way that they were weaponized by an individual who I don't know," explained Madelaine.

Little over a year after launching her company, Image Angel, which uses covert digital tracking to identify perpetrators, has garnered significant recognition and was recommended as best practice in an independent pornography review recently.

This marks a significant shift from her previous career in offering consensual sexual encounters, working with clients in the realms of BDSM.

A Widespread Issue

The non-consensual sharing of private images, often referred to as revenge porn, is a punishable crime with offenders risking two years in prison.

It is not at all an issue exclusively faced by those in the adult entertainment sector. A study suggests that around 1.42% of the UK female population is affected by this form of abuse on an annual basis.

Madelaine, thirty-seven, explained survivors lived with shame and stigma. "In my view a lot of people will say, 'you shared a private image out on the internet, what do you anticipate?'," she noted.

"I demand respect, I expect consideration, and I expect trust, and I don't see why those are negotiable," she continued. "The reality that those images could be then shared in my community or with my loved ones and employed to cause them pain, that's beyond, that's not a decision I made, that's not an error on my part, that's someone being an abuser."

A Unique Journey

Madelaine has been practicing as a dominatrix, primarily online, for 10 years and consistently found her work liberating and satisfying. "It's me as a dominant woman, a woman who is empowered and strong, offering my body as a treat to someone because I wish to," she said.

"People think it's unusual but I don't see it any differently to a nutritionist or an financial advisor giving advice," she remarked.

She embraces being something of an anomaly in the technology sector. "I know that it's unconventional, it's crazy to think that an individual who was a dominatrix is now a founder of a technology firm, but it took someone who has experienced it firsthand to know the loopholes and the modifications that were necessary," she stated.

She maintained she was not in the least bit techy and was able to build her company after a lot of late nights, research and "bugging people" who know about tech.

Understanding the Tech Solution

Image Angel can be used by any digital service where people exchange photos, for instance social connection apps, social media and websites.

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

This invisible watermark is embedded into the copy of the image itself and can withstand screen shots, being altered and being photographed with a secondary device.

It ensures that if you discover your image has been shared non-consensually, as long as the service you used has the technology embedded, the sharer's information will be hidden within the image and can be retrieved by a forensic expert so action can be taken.

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

An Established Method for a New Purpose

"The system is already in use in Hollywood, it already exists in live television so this is not an untested concept, it's just a new application and a new system," said Madelaine.

"We have validated it, we're collaborating with a company that has decades of expertise in developing technology so we know that this is reliable and what we now need to do is test it at scale," she added.

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

Changing the Narrative

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

"When that guilt is reinforced by a uninformed acquaintance or service who says 'well, why did you take those images in the first place?' that guilt can really be reinforced so it's crucial that the support a victim receives is that they have committed no error," she stated.

She added it was fantastic that Madelaine was leveraging her ordeal to create solutions, adding: "It is really important to have this comprehensive strategy towards addressing 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 her underwear were shared around her local community. It was the beginning of multiple violations Jess endured in her teens and 20s that would later shape her advocacy work.

"It required years, too long for someone to say to me, 'it wasn't your fault' and 'that was wrong'," said Jess.

She too is dedicated to eliminating the shame of intimate image abuse from the survivors to the perpetrators. "It isn't a crime to consensually send an photo to someone," stated Jess.

"But it is a crime to circulate that without consent and I think that should always be where the blame is," she concluded.