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Professional dominatrix Madelaine Thomas embodies far from your standard tech founder. After multiple occurrences of clients distributing her private explicit images, she was "angry enough to take action" and looked to technology for a solution.

"These were striking images, I'm unapologetic of the photographs, I'm ashamed of the manner that they were weaponized by an individual who I have never met," stated Madelaine.

Little over a year after launching her venture, Image Angel, which employs covert digital tracking to identify abusers, has won several awards and was recommended as exemplary procedure in an independent pornography review earlier this year.

This represents quite a departure from her background in providing consensual sexual encounters, working with clients in the world of kink and bondage.

The Pervasive Problem

The non-consensual sharing of private images, 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 adult entertainment sector. A study indicates that approximately 1.42% of the women in the UK is impacted by this form of abuse each year.

Madelaine, 37, explained survivors endured feelings of humiliation. "I think a lot of people will comment, 'you shared a saucy picture out on the internet, what do you anticipate?'," she noted.

"I expect respect, I expect consideration, and I expect confidence, and I fail to understand why those are up for debate," she added. "The reality that those images could be then shared in my community or with people I love 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."

An Unconventional Path

Madelaine has been working as a professional dominatrix, primarily online, for a decade and always found her work liberating and satisfying. "I am as a dominant woman, a woman who is confident and powerful, offering my body as a treat to someone of my own volition," she described.

"Some believe it's strange but I don't see it any differently to a personal trainer or an financial advisor giving advice," she remarked.

She welcomes 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 tech company, but it required someone who has been through it to understand the flaws and the modifications that were necessary," she stated.

She maintained she was not technically inclined and was able to build her company after a lot of late nights, research and "bugging people" who understand tech.

Understanding the Tech Solution

Image Angel can be used by any online platform where people share images, for instance dating apps, social media 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 covert marker is encoded within the digital file of the image itself and can withstand screenshots, being edited and being re-captured with a different camera.

It ensures that if you discover your image has been circulated non-consensually, providing the service you used has the technology embedded, the viewer's details will be hidden within the image and can be extracted by a data recovery specialist so legal steps can follow.

To date, one service has implemented 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 sports broadcasting so this is not brand new technology, it's just a new application and a different framework," explained Madelaine.

"We have validated it, we're collaborating with a company 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 added.

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

Changing the Narrative

An expert from a support service commented she had seen first-hand the trauma and guilt this 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 reinforced so it's really important that the response 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 technology-enabled gender-based abuse, because a single solution 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 just 15 when images of her in a state of undress were shared around her local community. It was the beginning of multiple violations Jess experienced in her teens and 20s that would later inform her advocacy work.

"It required years, too long for someone to tell me, 'it wasn't your fault' and 'that shouldn't have happened'," said Jess.

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

"But it is a crime to distribute that non-consensually and I think that should invariably be where the blame is," she concluded.