🔗 Share this article From Professional Dominatrix to Tech Founder: A Unique Campaign To Combat Revenge Porn Madelaine Thomas says her first-hand ordeal of having her intimate images leaked offers her a unique insight as a technology entrepreneur. BDSM practitioner Madelaine Thomas is far from your average tech founder. Following multiple occurrences of clients distributing her private explicit images, she felt "angry enough to take action" and turned to tech solutions for a solution. "Those were beautiful pictures, I'm unapologetic of the photographs, I'm ashamed of the way that they were used against me by an individual who I don't know," stated Madelaine. Madelaine has won several awards such as the Tech Safety Innovation award at a major industry conference. Little over a year since launching her venture, Image Angel, which employs covert digital tracking to track perpetrators, has garnered significant recognition and was recommended as best practice in an independent pornography review earlier this year. This marks a significant shift 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 criminal offence with perpetrators risking two years in prison. It is not at all 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 intimate image abuse on an annual basis. Madelaine, thirty-seven, explained survivors lived with shame and stigma. "In my view a lot of people will comment, 'you put a private image out on the internet, what do you anticipate?'," she noted. "I demand respect, I expect respect, 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 people I love and used to hurt them, that's beyond, that's not my choice, that's not my mistake, that's someone committing abuse." Madelaine aims her technology will prevent would-be intimate image abusers without consent. An Unconventional Path Madelaine has been practicing as a professional dominatrix, primarily online, for a decade and always 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 treat to someone of my own volition," she described. "People think it's strange but I don't see it any differently to a nutritionist or an accountant providing a service," she added. She welcomes being a unique figure in the world of tech. "I understand that it's unconventional, it's remarkable to think that an individual who was a dominatrix is now a founder of a technology firm, but it took someone who has been through it to understand the loopholes and the changes that were necessary," she explained. She maintained she was not technically inclined and was able to build her company after many sleepless nights, investigation and "consulting experts" who understand tech. Understanding the Tech Solution Image Angel can be used by any digital service where people exchange photos, for instance dating apps, social networks and online sites. When an image is accessed by a viewer, it is seamlessly tagged with an invisible forensic watermark which is unique to them. 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 ensures that if you discover your image has been shared without your consent, as long as the service you posted it on has the system integrated, 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 discussions with several more. Proven Technology, New Application "The system is already in use in Hollywood, it is employed in sports broadcasting so this is not brand new technology, it's just a novel use and a new system," explained Madelaine. "And we've tested it, we're collaborating with a firm that has 30 years experience in developing technology so we are confident that this is solid and what we now need to do is deploy it widely," she continued. She expressed hope she believed the technology would also act as a preventive measure to potential perpetrators. Removing Stigma, Shifting Blame An expert from a support service said she had seen directly the trauma and guilt this abuse caused for victims. "If that self-blame is reinforced 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 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 technology-enabled abuse, because no one tool is going to be able to solve this problem, no one helpline, it needs to be this multi-layered response." Madelaine Thomas and TV presenter Jess Davies have experienced having their intimate images shared without their consent. TV presenter Jess Davies was just 15 when images of her in her underwear were circulated within her town. It was the first of several incidents Jess experienced in her youth that would later shape 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 passionate about eliminating the shame of this crime from the survivors to the offenders. "There is no offence to willingly share an photo to someone," stated Jess. "However, it is illegal to distribute that without consent and I think that should always be where the responsibility is," she affirmed.