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Professional dominatrix Madelaine Thomas is far from your typical startup entrepreneur. After repeated instances of clients distributing her intimate photographs, she was "angry enough to take action" and looked to tech solutions for answers.

"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," said Madelaine.

Just over a year after founding her company, Image Angel, which employs covert digital tracking to track perpetrators, has won several awards and was cited as best practice in an government-commissioned study earlier this year.

This marks quite a departure from her background in providing BDSM services, dominating clients in the world of kink and bondage.

The Pervasive Problem

The non-consensual sharing of private images, commonly known as image-based abuse, is a criminal offence with offenders risking two years in prison.

It is not at all an issue exclusively faced by those in the adult entertainment sector. A study indicates that approximately 1.42% of the women in the UK is impacted by intimate image abuse on an annual basis.

Madelaine, 37, said survivors lived with feelings of humiliation. "In my view a lot of people will comment, 'you put a private image out on the internet, what do you expect?'," she said.

"I expect respect, I expect consideration, and I expect trust, and I fail to understand why those are negotiable," she added. "The fact that those images could be subsequently distributed in my community 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 someone being an abuser."

A Unique Journey

Madelaine has been working as a professional dominatrix, primarily online, for 10 years 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 treat to someone because I wish to," she said.

"People think it's unusual but I don't see it any differently to a nutritionist or an financial advisor giving advice," she remarked.

She welcomes being something of an anomaly in the world of tech. "I know that it's bizarre, it's remarkable to think that an individual who was a dominatrix is now a creator of a technology firm, but it required someone who has experienced it firsthand to know the loopholes and the modifications that needed to happen," she explained.

She maintained she was not technically inclined and was able to build her company after a lot of 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 media and online sites.

When an image is viewed by a viewer, it is seamlessly tagged with an invisible forensic watermark which is unique to them.

This invisible watermark is embedded into the copy of the image itself and can survive screenshots, being altered and being photographed with a secondary device.

It ensures that if you find out your image has been circulated non-consensually, as long as the platform you posted it on has the system integrated, the sharer's information will be encoded in the image and can be extracted by a data recovery specialist so action can be taken.

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

Proven Technology, New Application

"The system is already in use in Hollywood, it is employed in sports broadcasting so this is not an untested concept, it's just a new application and a new system," said 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 said she hoped the technology would also act as a deterrent to potential intimate image abusers.

Changing the Narrative

An advocate from a leading helpline commented she had seen first-hand the trauma and guilt intimate image abuse inflicted on victims.

"When that guilt 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 deepened so it's really important that the support a victim receives is that they have not done anything wrong," she stated.

She added it was fantastic 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 no one tool is going to be able to tackle this alone, no one helpline, it needs to be this multi-layered response."

TV presenter Jess Davies was only fifteen when images of her in her underwear were circulated within her town. It was the first of several incidents Jess endured in her teens and 20s that would later shape her advocacy work.

"It required years, an excessive amount of time for someone to say to 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 victims to the offenders. "There is no offence to consensually send an image to someone," said Jess.

"However, it is illegal to circulate that without consent and I think that should invariably be where the blame is," she affirmed.