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BDSM practitioner Madelaine Thomas embodies far from your typical startup entrepreneur. After repeated instances of individuals distributing her intimate photographs, she was "angry enough to do something about it" and turned to technology for a solution.

"Those were beautiful pictures, I'm unapologetic of the photographs, I'm embarrassed of the manner that they were weaponized by someone who I don't know," stated Madelaine.

Just over a year after launching her company, Image Angel, which uses invisible forensic watermarking to identify abusers, has garnered significant recognition and was cited as exemplary procedure in an government-commissioned study earlier this year.

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

A Widespread Issue

The non-consensual sharing of private images, often referred to as image-based abuse, is a punishable crime with offenders 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 UK female population is affected by intimate image abuse on an annual basis.

Madelaine, 37, explained victims lived with feelings of humiliation. "I think a lot of people will comment, 'you put a private image out on the internet, what do you expect?'," 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 subsequently distributed where I live or with my loved ones and employed to cause them pain, that's unacceptable, that's not a decision I made, that's not my mistake, that's an individual committing abuse."

A Unique Journey

Madelaine has been working as a dominatrix, primarily online, for 10 years and consistently found her work empowering and fulfilling. "I am as a woman in control, a woman who is confident and powerful, offering my body as a treat to someone because I wish to," she said.

"Some believe it's unusual but I view it similarly to a nutritionist or an financial advisor providing a service," she added.

She embraces being something of an anomaly in the technology sector. "I know that it's bizarre, it's remarkable to think that an individual who was a dominatrix is now a founder of a tech company, but it took someone who has been through it to know the flaws and the changes that were necessary," she stated.

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

Understanding the Tech Solution

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

When an image is accessed by a user, it is seamlessly tagged with an undetectable digital marker 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 photographed with a different camera.

It means that if you find out your image has been circulated non-consensually, 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 data recovery specialist so legal steps can follow.

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

Proven Technology, New Application

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

"We have validated it, we're collaborating with a firm that has decades of expertise in developing technology so we are confident that this is reliable and what we now need to do is test it at scale," she continued.

She expressed hope she believed the technology would also act as a preventive measure to would-be perpetrators.

Removing Stigma, Shifting Blame

An advocate from a support service said she had seen first-hand the trauma and guilt intimate image abuse caused for victims.

"When that guilt is reinforced by a uninformed acquaintance or professional who says 'what did you expect?' that guilt 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 inspiring 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 no one tool 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 images of her in her underwear were circulated within her town. It was the beginning of multiple violations Jess experienced in her teens and 20s that would later inform her women's rights campaigning.

"It took so long, an excessive amount of time 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 victims to the perpetrators. "There is no offence to consensually send an image to someone," stated Jess.

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