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BDSM practitioner Madelaine Thomas represents not at all your average tech founder. After repeated instances of individuals distributing her private explicit images, she felt "angry enough to do something about it" and looked to tech solutions for a solution.

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

Just over a year after founding her venture, Image Angel, which uses invisible forensic watermarking to identify perpetrators, has won several awards and was cited as exemplary procedure in an government-commissioned study recently.

This represents quite a departure from her previous career in providing BDSM services, dominating clients in the realms of BDSM.

The Pervasive Problem

The non-consensual sharing of private images, 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 exclusively faced by those in the adult entertainment sector. A report indicates that around 1.42% of the UK female population is impacted by this form of abuse each year.

Madelaine, thirty-seven, said victims lived with feelings of humiliation. "I think a lot of people will say, 'you shared a private image 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 up for debate," she continued. "The fact that those images could be subsequently distributed where I live or with people I love and employed to cause them pain, that's unacceptable, that's not a decision I made, that's not an error on my part, that's an individual being an abuser."

A Unique Journey

Madelaine has been practicing as a dominatrix, mainly online, for 10 years and always found her work liberating and satisfying. "I am 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 strange but I view it similarly to a personal trainer or an accountant providing a service," she added.

She welcomes being something of an anomaly in the technology sector. "I understand that it's bizarre, it's remarkable to think that an individual who was a dominatrix is now a founder of a tech company, but it required someone who has been through it to understand the loopholes and the modifications that were necessary," she stated.

She insisted she was not technically inclined and was managed to build her company after many sleepless nights, investigation and "consulting experts" who understand tech.

Understanding the Tech Solution

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

When an image is viewed by a user, it is seamlessly tagged with an invisible forensic watermark which is unique to them.

This covert marker is encoded within the digital file of the image itself and can withstand screenshots, being edited and being photographed with a different camera.

It means that if you find out your image has been circulated without your consent, as long as 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 many others.

Proven Technology, New Application

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

"And we've tested it, we're collaborating with a firm that has 30 years experience in tech development so we know that this is solid and what we now need to do is test it at scale," she added.

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

Changing the Narrative

An expert from a support service said she had seen first-hand the trauma and guilt this abuse caused for victims.

"If that self-blame is compounded by a uninformed acquaintance or service who says 'what did you expect?' that self blame can really be deepened so it's crucial that the support a victim receives is that they have not done anything wrong," she emphasized.

She added it was inspiring that Madelaine was using her experience to create solutions, saying: "It is really important to have this comprehensive strategy towards tackling tech facilitated abuse, because no one tool is going to be able to tackle this alone, not just support services, it needs to be this integrated effort."

TV presenter Jess Davies was only fifteen when photographs of her in a state of undress were shared around her local community. It was the beginning of multiple violations Jess endured in her teens and 20s that would later inform her advocacy work.

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

She too is passionate about eliminating the shame of intimate image abuse from the victims to the offenders. "There is no offence to willingly share an image to someone," said Jess.

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