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BDSM practitioner Madelaine Thomas represents far from your typical tech founder. Following repeated instances of individuals leaking her intimate photographs, she felt "sufficiently outraged to take action" and turned to tech solutions for a solution.

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

Little over a year after founding her company, Image Angel, which uses covert digital tracking to identify abusers, has won several awards and was recommended as best practice in an independent pornography review earlier this year.

This represents quite a departure from her previous career in offering BDSM services, working with clients in the world of kink and bondage.

The Pervasive Problem

The non-consensual sharing of private images, commonly known as image-based abuse, 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 sex industry. A report suggests that around 1.42% of the UK female population is affected by intimate image abuse on an annual basis.

Madelaine, 37, explained victims endured feelings of humiliation. "I think a lot of people will comment, 'you put a private image out on the internet, what do you anticipate?'," she noted.

"I demand dignity, I expect consideration, and I expect trust, and I don't see why those are up for debate," 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 someone being an abuser."

A Unique Journey

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

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

She welcomes being a unique figure in the world of tech. "I understand that it's bizarre, it's remarkable to think that someone who was a dominatrix is now a founder of a technology firm, but it took someone who has experienced it firsthand to understand the flaws and the modifications that needed to happen," she explained.

She maintained she was not in the least bit techy and was managed to build her company after many sleepless nights, research and "consulting experts" who know about tech.

Understanding the Tech Solution

Image Angel can be used by any online platform where people share images, for instance dating apps, social networks and websites.

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

This covert marker is embedded into the digital file of the image itself and can survive screenshots, being edited and being photographed with a secondary device.

It ensures that if you find out your image has been shared 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 action can be taken.

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

An Established Method for a New Purpose

"The system is already in use in the film industry, it already exists in sports broadcasting so this is not an untested concept, it's just a new application and a different framework," said Madelaine.

"We have validated it, we're partnering with a firm that has decades of expertise in tech development so we know that this is reliable and what we now need to do is deploy it widely," she continued.

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

Changing the Narrative

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

"If that self-blame is reinforced by a uninformed acquaintance or professional who says 'what did you expect?' that guilt can really be deepened so it's crucial 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 create solutions, adding: "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 only fifteen when images of her in a state of undress were shared around her local community. It was the first of several incidents Jess experienced in her youth that would later inform her advocacy work.

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

She too is passionate about eliminating the shame of this crime from the victims to the perpetrators. "There is no offence to consensually send an photo to someone," said Jess.

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