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Professional dominatrix Madelaine Thomas is far from your average tech founder. After multiple occurrences of individuals distributing her private explicit images, she felt "sufficiently outraged to take action" and looked to technology for a solution.

"These were beautiful pictures, I'm not ashamed of the photographs, I'm ashamed of the manner that they were used against me by an individual who I have never met," explained Madelaine.

Just over a year since founding her venture, Image Angel, which uses covert digital tracking to track perpetrators, has garnered significant recognition and was cited as exemplary procedure in an government-commissioned study earlier this year.

This marks quite a departure from her previous career in providing consensual sexual encounters, working with clients in the realms of kink and bondage.

A Widespread Issue

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

It is far from an issue uniquely experienced by those in the sex industry. A study suggests that around 1.42% of the women in the UK is impacted by this form of abuse on an annual basis.

Madelaine, thirty-seven, said victims lived with shame and stigma. "I think a lot of people will say, 'you shared 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 don't see why those are negotiable," she added. "The reality that those images could be subsequently distributed where I live or with my loved ones and used to hurt them, that's unacceptable, that's not a decision I made, that's not my mistake, that's an individual being an abuser."

A Unique Journey

Madelaine has been practicing as a dominatrix, primarily online, for a decade and consistently found her work empowering and fulfilling. "I am as a dominant woman, a woman who is empowered and strong, offering my body as a gift to someone of my own volition," she said.

"Some believe it's unusual but I view it similarly to a personal trainer or an accountant giving advice," she added.

She welcomes being something of an anomaly in the world of tech. "I understand that it's unconventional, it's crazy to think that someone who was a dominatrix is now a founder of a technology firm, but it took someone who has been through it to understand the loopholes 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 a lot of late nights, investigation and "consulting experts" who understand tech.

How Does the Technology Work?

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

When an image is accessed by a viewer, it is automatically embedded with an undetectable digital marker which is specific to that viewer.

This invisible watermark is encoded within the copy of the image itself and can withstand screen shots, being edited and being re-captured with a different camera.

It means that if you discover your image has been circulated without your consent, providing the service you used has the system integrated, the viewer's details will be encoded in the image and can be retrieved by a data recovery specialist so action can be taken.

To date, one platform has adopted her tech and she's in talks with many others.

Proven Technology, New Application

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

"And we've tested it, we're partnering with a company that has 30 years experience in tech development so we are confident that this is reliable and what we now need to do is test it at scale," she added.

She expressed hope she believed the technology would also act as a preventive measure to potential perpetrators.

Removing Stigma, Shifting Blame

An advocate from a support service said she had seen first-hand the panic, distress and self-blame intimate image abuse caused for victims.

"When that guilt is compounded by a misinformed friend or service who says 'well, why did you take those images in the first place?' that self blame can really be deepened so it's crucial that the response somebody is provided with is that they have committed no error," she emphasized.

She noted it was fantastic that Madelaine was leveraging her ordeal to bring about change, saying: "It is really important to have this comprehensive strategy towards tackling technology-enabled gender-based abuse, because no one tool 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 images of her in her underwear were circulated within her town. It was the beginning of multiple violations Jess endured in her youth that would later shape her advocacy work.

"It took so long, too long for someone to say to me, 'it wasn't your fault' and 'that shouldn't have happened'," recalled Jess.

She too is dedicated to eliminating the shame of this crime from the victims to the offenders. "There is no offence to willingly share an image to someone," said Jess.

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