đŸ”— Share this article Transitioning from Professional Dominatrix to Tech Founder: A Unique Battle To Combat Intimate Image Abuse Madelaine Thomas says her first-hand ordeal of having her private photos shared without consent gives her a unique insight as a technology entrepreneur. BDSM practitioner Madelaine Thomas represents far from your average startup entrepreneur. After multiple occurrences of individuals leaking her private explicit images, she was "sufficiently outraged to do something about it" and turned to technology for answers. "These were striking images, I'm unapologetic of the photographs, I'm embarrassed of the way that they were used against me by someone who I don't know," explained Madelaine. Madelaine has won several awards such as the Innovation in Tech Safety award at a major industry conference. Little over a year after founding her venture, Image Angel, which uses covert digital tracking to identify perpetrators, has garnered significant recognition and was cited as best practice in an government-commissioned study earlier this year. This represents a significant shift from her background in offering consensual sexual encounters, dominating clients in the world of kink and bondage. The Pervasive Problem Intimate image abuse, commonly known as image-based abuse, is a punishable crime with offenders risking two years in prison. It is far from an issue exclusively faced by those in the sex industry. A report suggests that approximately 1.42% of the women in the UK is impacted by this form of abuse on an annual basis. Madelaine, 37, explained survivors endured shame and stigma. "I think a lot of people will comment, 'you shared a private image out on the internet, what do you anticipate?'," she said. "I expect dignity, I expect consideration, and I expect confidence, and I fail to understand why those are negotiable," she continued. "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 an error on my part, that's someone being an abuser." Madelaine hopes her tech will prevent would-be intimate image abusers non-consensually. A Unique Journey Madelaine has been practicing as a dominatrix, mainly 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, offering 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 nutritionist or an financial advisor giving advice," she added. She embraces being something of an anomaly in the technology sector. "I understand that it's unconventional, it's crazy to think that someone who was a dominatrix is now a creator of a technology firm, but it required someone who has experienced it firsthand to understand the flaws and the changes that were necessary," she stated. She maintained she was not technically inclined and was able to build her company after many late nights, research and "consulting experts" who know about tech. Understanding the Tech Solution Image Angel can be implemented on any online platform where people share images, for instance social connection apps, social networks and online sites. When an image is accessed by a user, it is automatically embedded with an undetectable digital marker which is unique to them. This invisible watermark is encoded within the digital file of the image itself and can withstand screenshots, being altered and being re-captured 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 viewer's details 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 several more. Proven Technology, New Application "This technology already exists in the film industry, it is employed in live television so this is not brand new technology, it's just a new application 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 said she hoped the technology would also act as a preventive measure to would-be intimate image abusers. Removing Stigma, Shifting Blame An expert from a leading helpline commented she had seen first-hand the panic, distress and self-blame intimate image abuse caused for 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 support somebody is provided with is that they have not done anything wrong," she stated. She noted it was inspiring that Madelaine was leveraging her ordeal to create solutions, adding: "It is vital to have this multi-layered approach towards tackling tech facilitated gender-based abuse, because a single solution is going to be able to tackle this alone, no one helpline, it needs to be this multi-layered response." Madelaine Thomas and TV presenter Jess Davies have been victims of having their private photos distributed without their consent. TV presenter Jess Davies was just 15 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 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'," recalled 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 consensually send an image to someone," said Jess. "But it is a crime to distribute that without consent and I think that should always be where the blame is," she concluded.