🔗 Share this article From Dominatrix to Technology Entrepreneur: An Unconventional Campaign To Combat Revenge Porn Madelaine Thomas explains her first-hand ordeal of experiencing her intimate images shared without consent gives her a unique insight as a tech founder. Professional dominatrix Madelaine Thomas represents not at all your standard startup entrepreneur. Following multiple occurrences of clients distributing her private explicit images, she was "sufficiently outraged to take action" and looked to technology for a solution. "These were beautiful pictures, I'm unapologetic of the photographs, I'm embarrassed of the way that they were used against me by an individual who I have never met," explained Madelaine. Madelaine has received several awards such as the Tech Safety Innovation award at a prominent industry conference. Little over a year after launching her venture, Image Angel, which uses covert digital tracking to track abusers, has won several awards and was recommended as exemplary procedure in an government-commissioned study earlier this year. This represents quite a departure from her previous career in providing BDSM services, dominating clients in the world of kink and bondage. A Widespread Issue The non-consensual sharing of private images, commonly known as image-based abuse, is a punishable crime with offenders risking two years in prison. It is not at all an issue uniquely experienced by those in the adult entertainment sector. A report indicates that around 1.42% of the UK female population is impacted by this form of abuse on an annual basis. Madelaine, 37, explained victims endured feelings of humiliation. "I think a lot of people will comment, 'you shared a private image out on the internet, what do you anticipate?'," she noted. "I expect dignity, I expect respect, and I expect trust, 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 people I love and employed to cause them pain, that's beyond, that's not a decision I made, that's not an error on my part, that's someone committing abuse." Madelaine aims her tech will prevent potential individuals from sharing photos without consent. An Unconventional Path Madelaine has been practicing as a dominatrix, mainly online, for 10 years and always found her work liberating and satisfying. "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. "People think it's strange but I don't see it any differently to a personal trainer or an financial advisor providing a service," she added. She embraces being a unique figure in the technology sector. "I understand that it's bizarre, it's crazy to think that an individual who was a dominatrix is now a creator of a technology firm, but it took someone who has experienced it firsthand to know the loopholes and the modifications that needed to happen," she stated. She maintained she was not technically inclined and was able to build her company after many late nights, investigation and "bugging people" who know about tech. How Does the Technology Work? Image Angel can be used by any digital service where people share images, for instance social connection apps, social media and websites. When an image is viewed by a viewer, it is automatically embedded with an invisible forensic watermark which is unique to them. This invisible watermark is encoded within the digital file of the image itself and can survive screen shots, being edited and being photographed with a different camera. It means that if you discover your image has been circulated without your consent, as long as the service you used has the system integrated, the viewer's details will be encoded in the image and can be retrieved by a forensic expert so action can be taken. Currently, one service has implemented her tech and she's in talks with many others. An Established Method for a New Purpose "The system already exists in Hollywood, it already exists in sports broadcasting so this is not brand new technology, it's just a novel use and a new system," explained Madelaine. "We have validated it, we're partnering with a company that has decades of expertise in tech development so we know that this is reliable and what we now need to do is deploy it widely," she added. She expressed hope she hoped the technology would also act as a preventive measure to potential intimate image abusers. Changing the Narrative An expert from a support service said she had seen directly the trauma and guilt intimate image abuse caused for victims. "If that self-blame is compounded by a misinformed friend or service who says 'well, why did you take those images in the first place?' that self blame can really be deepened so it's crucial that the support somebody is provided with is that they have committed no error," she stated. She added it was inspiring that Madelaine was using her experience to bring about change, adding: "It is really important to have this multi-layered approach towards tackling tech facilitated gender-based 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." Both women have experienced having their private photos distributed non-consensually. TV presenter Jess Davies was just 15 when images of her in her underwear were shared around her town. It was the beginning of multiple violations Jess endured in her youth that would later inform her women's rights campaigning. "It required years, an excessive amount of time for someone to tell 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 victims to the offenders. "There is no offence to willingly share an image to someone," stated Jess. "However, it is illegal to distribute that without consent and I think that should always be where the blame is," she affirmed.