🔗 Share this article Transitioning from BDSM Practitioner to Tech Founder: An Unconventional Campaign To Combat Revenge Porn Madelaine Thomas says her first-hand ordeal of having her private photos shared without consent offers her a unique insight as a tech founder. Professional dominatrix Madelaine Thomas is not at all your standard startup entrepreneur. Following multiple instances of clients leaking her intimate photographs, she felt "sufficiently outraged to take action" and turned to technology for answers. "Those were striking images, I'm unapologetic of the photographs, I'm ashamed of the manner that they were used against me by someone who I don't know," said Madelaine. Madelaine has won multiple accolades such as the Tech Safety Innovation award at a prominent industry conference. Just over a year after launching her company, Image Angel, which uses invisible forensic watermarking to identify perpetrators, has won several awards and was cited as exemplary procedure in an independent pornography review recently. This marks a significant shift from her previous career in offering BDSM services, dominating clients in the world of kink and bondage. The Pervasive Problem Intimate image abuse, often referred to as image-based abuse, is a punishable crime with perpetrators facing up to two years in prison. It is not at all an issue exclusively faced by those in the sex industry. A report indicates that around 1.42% of the UK female population is affected by this form of abuse each year. Madelaine, 37, explained survivors lived with feelings of humiliation. "I think a lot of people will say, 'you shared a saucy picture out on the internet, what do you expect?'," she noted. "I expect dignity, I expect respect, and I expect trust, and I don't see why those are negotiable," she added. "The fact that those images could be then shared 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 an individual committing abuse." Madelaine aims her tech will deter potential individuals from sharing photos non-consensually. An Unconventional Path Madelaine has been working as a professional dominatrix, primarily online, for 10 years and consistently found her work empowering and fulfilling. "It's me as a dominant woman, a woman who is empowered and strong, giving my body as a gift to someone because I wish to," she described. "People think it's unusual but I view it similarly to a personal trainer or an financial advisor providing a service," she added. She welcomes being something of an anomaly in the world of tech. "I understand that it's unconventional, it's remarkable to think that an individual 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 stated. She maintained she was not technically inclined and was managed to build her company after a lot of late 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 networks and online sites. When an image is viewed by a viewer, it is seamlessly tagged with an undetectable digital marker which is specific to that viewer. This covert marker is embedded into the copy of the image itself and can survive screen shots, being altered and being re-captured with a secondary device. It ensures 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 sharer's information will be encoded in the image and can be extracted by a data recovery specialist so legal steps can follow. 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 the film industry, it already exists 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 partnering 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 deterrent to potential intimate image abusers. Changing the Narrative An expert from a support service commented she had seen directly the panic, distress and self-blame intimate image abuse caused for victims. "If that self-blame is reinforced by a misinformed friend or service 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 not done anything wrong," she stated. She added it was fantastic that Madelaine was leveraging her ordeal to bring about change, saying: "It is vital to have this comprehensive strategy towards addressing technology-enabled gender-based abuse, because no one tool is going to be able to tackle this alone, no one helpline, it needs to be this integrated effort." Madelaine Thomas and TV presenter Jess Davies have experienced having their intimate images shared non-consensually. 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 endured in her teens and 20s that would later shape her women's rights campaigning. "It took so long, too long for someone to say to me, 'you are not to blame' and 'that shouldn't have happened'," recalled Jess. She too is dedicated to removing the stigma of this crime from the survivors to the offenders. "There is no offence to willingly share an photo to someone," said Jess. "However, it is illegal to circulate that non-consensually and I think that should always be where the responsibility is," she concluded.