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Professional dominatrix Madelaine Thomas embodies not at all your standard startup entrepreneur. Following multiple occurrences of individuals distributing her intimate photographs, she was "sufficiently outraged to do something about it" and turned to technology for a solution.

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

Just over a year since launching her company, Image Angel, which employs covert digital tracking to track abusers, has won several awards and was recommended as exemplary procedure in an government-commissioned study recently.

This marks quite a departure from her background 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 criminal offence with perpetrators facing up to two years in prison.

It is far from an issue uniquely experienced by those in the adult entertainment sector. A report suggests that around 1.42% of the women in the UK is impacted by intimate image abuse on an annual basis.

Madelaine, 37, said victims lived with shame and stigma. "In my view a lot of people will comment, 'you shared a private image out on the internet, what do you expect?'," she noted.

"I expect respect, I expect respect, and I expect confidence, and I fail to understand why those are negotiable," she added. "The fact that those images could be then shared where I live or with people I love and used to hurt them, that's beyond, that's not my choice, that's not an error on my part, that's an individual being an abuser."

An Unconventional Path

Madelaine has been practicing as a dominatrix, primarily online, for 10 years and consistently found her work liberating and satisfying. "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 said.

"People think it's unusual but I view it similarly to a nutritionist or an financial advisor giving advice," she remarked.

She embraces being something of an anomaly in the technology sector. "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 know the flaws and the changes that were necessary," she explained.

She maintained she was not technically inclined and was managed to build her company after a lot of sleepless nights, investigation and "bugging people" who know about tech.

How Does the Technology Work?

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

When an image is accessed by a user, it is seamlessly tagged with an invisible forensic watermark which is specific to that viewer.

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

It means that if you discover your image has been shared without your consent, as long as the service you used has the system integrated, the sharer's information will be encoded in the image and can be extracted by a data recovery specialist so action can be taken.

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

An Established Method for a New Purpose

"The system already exists in Hollywood, it is employed in sports broadcasting so this is not an untested concept, it's just a novel use and a different framework," explained Madelaine.

"We have validated it, we're partnering with a firm 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 hoped the technology would also act as a deterrent to would-be intimate image abusers.

Changing the Narrative

An advocate from a support service commented she had seen directly the panic, distress and self-blame this abuse inflicted on 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 really important that the response somebody is provided with is that they have not done anything wrong," she emphasized.

She noted it was fantastic that Madelaine was leveraging her ordeal to create solutions, adding: "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, no one helpline, 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 town. It was the first of several incidents Jess experienced in her teens and 20s 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 was wrong'," said Jess.

She too is dedicated to removing the stigma of this crime from the survivors to the perpetrators. "There is no offence to consensually send an photo to someone," stated Jess.

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