🔗 Share this article From Dominatrix to Tech Founder: An Unconventional Battle To Combat Revenge Porn Madelaine Thomas explains her personal experience of experiencing her intimate images leaked offers her a distinct perspective as a technology entrepreneur. Professional dominatrix Madelaine Thomas embodies far from your average startup entrepreneur. Following repeated instances of clients distributing her private explicit images, she felt "angry enough to do something about it" and turned to tech solutions for answers. "These were beautiful pictures, I'm unapologetic of the photographs, I'm ashamed of the way that they were weaponized by someone who I don't know," said Madelaine. Madelaine has received several awards including the Tech Safety Innovation award at a prominent safety summit. Little over a year since launching her company, Image Angel, which employs invisible forensic watermarking to track perpetrators, has garnered significant recognition and was recommended as exemplary procedure in an independent pornography review recently. This represents quite a departure from her previous career in offering BDSM services, dominating clients in the realms of BDSM. A Widespread Issue The non-consensual sharing of private images, commonly known 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 study indicates that approximately 1.42% of the UK female population is impacted by this form of abuse on an annual basis. Madelaine, 37, explained victims lived with 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 respect, and I expect trust, and I don't see why those are up for debate," 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 beyond, that's not a decision I made, that's not my mistake, that's an individual committing abuse." Madelaine aims her tech will prevent potential individuals from sharing photos without consent. A Unique Journey Madelaine has been working as a professional dominatrix, mainly online, for a decade and always found her work liberating and satisfying. "I am as a dominant woman, a woman who is empowered and strong, giving my body as a treat to someone because I wish to," she said. "People think it's unusual but I don't see it any differently to a personal trainer or an accountant giving advice," she remarked. She welcomes being something of an anomaly in the world of tech. "I understand that it's bizarre, it's remarkable to think that an individual who was a dominatrix is now a founder of a technology firm, but it required someone who has been through it to know the flaws and the modifications that needed to happen," she explained. She maintained she was not in the least bit techy and was managed to build her company after many sleepless nights, investigation and "consulting experts" who understand tech. Understanding the Tech Solution Image Angel can be implemented on any digital service where people share images, for instance dating apps, social networks and websites. When an image is accessed by a user, it is automatically embedded with an undetectable digital marker which is unique to them. This covert marker is encoded within the digital file of the image itself and can survive screen shots, being altered and being photographed with a secondary device. It means that if you discover your image has been circulated non-consensually, providing the service you used has the technology embedded, the sharer's information will be encoded in the image and can be retrieved by a forensic expert so action can be taken. To date, one platform has adopted her tech and she's in talks with many others. An Established Method for a New Purpose "This technology is already in use in Hollywood, it already exists in sports broadcasting so this is not an untested concept, it's just a new application and a different framework," explained 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 deploy it widely," she continued. She said she hoped the technology would also act as a preventive measure to potential intimate image abusers. Removing Stigma, Shifting Blame An expert from a support service commented she had seen first-hand the panic, distress and self-blame intimate image abuse inflicted on victims. "When that guilt is reinforced by a uninformed acquaintance or service who says 'what did you expect?' that guilt can really be reinforced so it's really important that the support somebody is provided with is that they have not done anything wrong," she emphasized. She noted it was fantastic that Madelaine was using her experience to create solutions, adding: "It is really important to have this multi-layered approach towards tackling technology-enabled gender-based abuse, because a single solution is going to be able to solve this problem, no one helpline, it needs to be this integrated effort." Both women have been victims of having their private photos distributed non-consensually. TV presenter Jess Davies was only fifteen when photographs of her in her underwear were circulated within her local community. It was the beginning of multiple violations Jess endured in her youth that would later inform her women's rights campaigning. "It took so long, too long for someone to say to me, 'you are not to blame' and 'that was wrong'," said Jess. She too is dedicated to eliminating the shame of intimate image abuse from the survivors to the offenders. "It isn't a crime to willingly share an photo to someone," stated Jess. "But it is a crime to circulate that without consent and I think that should always be where the blame is," she affirmed.