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BDSM practitioner Madelaine Thomas is not at all your average startup entrepreneur. After repeated instances of individuals distributing her intimate photographs, she felt "sufficiently outraged to do something about it" and turned to technology for answers.

"These were beautiful pictures, I'm not ashamed of the pictures, I'm embarrassed of the manner that they were weaponized by an individual who I have never met," said Madelaine.

Just over a year after founding her venture, Image Angel, which uses invisible forensic watermarking to track abusers, has garnered significant recognition and was cited as best practice in an government-commissioned study recently.

This represents a significant shift from her background in providing BDSM services, dominating clients in the realms of BDSM.

The Pervasive Problem

The non-consensual sharing of private images, commonly known as revenge porn, is a punishable crime with perpetrators risking two years in prison.

It is far from an issue uniquely experienced by those in the adult entertainment sector. A study suggests that approximately 1.42% of the UK female population is affected by intimate image abuse each year.

Madelaine, thirty-seven, explained victims endured shame and stigma. "In my view a lot of people will say, 'you put a private image out on the internet, what do you expect?'," she noted.

"I expect respect, I expect consideration, 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 my choice, that's not my mistake, that's an individual committing abuse."

An Unconventional Path

Madelaine has been working as a dominatrix, primarily online, for a decade and consistently found her work empowering and fulfilling. "It's me as a dominant woman, a woman who is empowered and strong, offering my body as a gift to someone because I wish to," she said.

"Some believe it's unusual but I don't see it any differently to a personal trainer or an accountant giving advice," she remarked.

She embraces 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 experienced it firsthand to understand the flaws and the changes that needed to happen," she explained.

She insisted she was not in the least bit techy and was able to build her company after a lot of sleepless nights, research 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 automatically embedded with an undetectable digital marker which is specific to that viewer.

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 find out your image has been shared non-consensually, as long as the service you used has the system integrated, the viewer's details will be encoded in the image and can be extracted by a forensic expert so legal steps can follow.

Currently, one service has implemented her tech and she's in talks with many others.

Proven Technology, New Application

"The system already exists in the film industry, it is employed in live television so this is not an untested concept, it's just a new application and a new system," explained Madelaine.

"And we've tested it, we're collaborating with a company that has 30 years experience in tech development so we know that this is reliable and what we now need to do is test it at scale," she continued.

She expressed hope she hoped the technology would also act as a preventive measure to potential perpetrators.

Changing the Narrative

An expert from a leading helpline said she had seen first-hand the panic, distress and self-blame this 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 guilt can really be reinforced so it's really important that the response a victim receives is that they have not done anything wrong," she emphasized.

She added it was inspiring that Madelaine was leveraging her ordeal to bring about change, adding: "It is vital to have this multi-layered approach towards addressing technology-enabled abuse, because a single solution is going to be able to solve this problem, 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 town. It was the first of several incidents Jess endured in her youth that would later inform her advocacy work.

"It required years, too long for someone to tell me, 'you are not to blame' and 'that was wrong'," said Jess.

She too is passionate about eliminating the shame of this crime from the survivors to the offenders. "It isn't a crime to willingly share an image to someone," stated Jess.

"But it is a crime to distribute that without consent and I think that should invariably be where the responsibility is," she concluded.