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Professional dominatrix Madelaine Thomas embodies far from your average tech founder. After repeated occurrences of clients distributing her intimate photographs, she was "sufficiently outraged 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 manner that they were weaponized by someone who I have never met," explained Madelaine.

Little over a year since launching her venture, Image Angel, which uses covert digital tracking to track abusers, has won several awards and was recommended as best practice in an independent pornography review recently.

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

The Pervasive Problem

Intimate image abuse, commonly known as image-based abuse, is a punishable crime with perpetrators facing up to two years in prison.

It is far from an issue exclusively faced by those in the sex industry. A study indicates 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 endured shame and stigma. "In my view a lot of people will say, 'you shared a private image out on the internet, what do you expect?'," she noted.

"I expect dignity, 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 subsequently distributed in my community or with my loved ones and used to hurt them, that's beyond, that's not my choice, that's not an error on my part, that's someone committing abuse."

An Unconventional Path

Madelaine has been working as a dominatrix, mainly online, for 10 years and always found her work empowering and fulfilling. "It's me as a woman in control, a woman who is empowered and strong, giving my body as a gift to someone of my own volition," she described.

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

She welcomes being something of an anomaly in the world of tech. "I know that it's unconventional, it's crazy to think that someone who was a dominatrix is now a founder of a tech company, but it required someone who has been through it to know the loopholes and the changes that needed to happen," she explained.

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

Understanding the Tech Solution

Image Angel can be used by any digital service where people share images, for instance dating apps, social networks 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 invisible watermark is encoded within the copy of the image itself and can withstand screenshots, being altered and being photographed with a secondary device.

It means that if you find out your image has been circulated 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 legal steps can follow.

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

Proven Technology, New Application

"The system is already in use in the film industry, it already exists in live television so this is not brand new technology, it's just a new application and a new system," explained Madelaine.

"We have validated it, we're collaborating with a company that has 30 years experience in developing technology so we are confident 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 deterrent to would-be perpetrators.

Removing Stigma, Shifting Blame

An advocate from a leading helpline commented she had seen first-hand the trauma and guilt intimate image abuse caused for victims.

"If that self-blame is compounded by a uninformed acquaintance 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 support a victim receives is that they have committed no error," she stated.

She added it was fantastic that Madelaine was using her experience to bring about change, saying: "It is vital to have this comprehensive strategy towards tackling tech facilitated 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 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, an excessive amount of time for someone to tell me, 'you are not to blame' and 'that was wrong'," recalled Jess.

She too is dedicated to removing the stigma of intimate image abuse from the survivors to the offenders. "There is no offence to consensually send an image to someone," said Jess.

"However, it is illegal to circulate that non-consensually and I think that should invariably be where the blame is," she concluded.