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BDSM practitioner Madelaine Thomas embodies not at all your average tech founder. Following multiple occurrences of clients leaking her intimate photographs, she felt "angry enough to take action" and looked to tech solutions for answers.

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

Just over a year after founding her venture, Image Angel, which uses invisible forensic watermarking to track abusers, 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 BDSM services, dominating clients in the realms of kink and bondage.

The Pervasive Problem

Intimate image abuse, often referred to as revenge porn, is a criminal offence with offenders risking two years in prison.

It is far from an issue exclusively faced by those in the sex industry. A study indicates that approximately 1.42% of the women in the UK is impacted by this form of abuse on an annual basis.

Madelaine, 37, said victims lived with feelings of humiliation. "In my view a lot of people will comment, 'you shared a private image out on the internet, what do you anticipate?'," she noted.

"I expect dignity, I expect respect, and I expect trust, and I fail to understand why those are negotiable," she added. "The reality that those images could be subsequently distributed where I live or with my loved ones and employed to cause them pain, that's beyond, that's not my choice, that's not my mistake, that's an individual committing abuse."

A Unique Journey

Madelaine has been working as a professional dominatrix, primarily online, for a decade and consistently found her work empowering and fulfilling. "I am as a dominant woman, a woman who is confident and powerful, offering my body as a gift to someone because I wish to," she said.

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

She embraces being a unique figure in the world of tech. "I know that it's unconventional, it's crazy to think that an individual who was a dominatrix is now a creator of a technology firm, but it required someone who has been through it to understand the flaws and the changes that needed to happen," she stated.

She maintained she was not in the least bit techy and was managed to build her company after many sleepless nights, research and "bugging people" who understand tech.

Understanding the Tech Solution

Image Angel can be used by any online platform where people exchange photos, for instance dating apps, social media and websites.

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

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

It means that if you discover your image has been shared without your consent, providing the service you posted it on has the technology embedded, the sharer's information will be hidden within the image and can be extracted by a forensic expert so action can be taken.

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

Proven Technology, New Application

"The system already exists in Hollywood, it already exists in sports broadcasting 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 firm that has decades of expertise in tech development so we are confident that this is solid and what we now need to do is deploy it widely," she continued.

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

Removing Stigma, Shifting Blame

An advocate from a support service said she had seen directly the trauma and guilt this abuse caused for victims.

"When that guilt is reinforced by a uninformed acquaintance or professional who says 'what did you expect?' that self blame can really be deepened so it's really important that the support somebody is provided with is that they have committed no error," she emphasized.

She noted it was inspiring that Madelaine was leveraging her ordeal to bring about change, saying: "It is vital to have this multi-layered approach towards addressing technology-enabled 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 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 women's rights campaigning.

"It required years, too long for someone to say to me, 'you are not to blame' and 'that was wrong'," said Jess.

She too is dedicated to removing the stigma of intimate image abuse from the victims to the offenders. "There is no offence to willingly share an photo to someone," said Jess.

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