🔗 Share this article From Professional Dominatrix to Technology Entrepreneur: A Unique Fight To Combat Revenge Porn Madelaine Thomas says her first-hand ordeal of experiencing her private photos leaked gives her a distinct perspective as a tech founder. Professional dominatrix Madelaine Thomas embodies far from your standard startup entrepreneur. Following repeated occurrences of clients distributing her private explicit images, she was "sufficiently outraged to take action" and looked to tech solutions for answers. "Those were beautiful pictures, I'm unapologetic of the pictures, I'm ashamed of the way that they were used against me by an individual who I have never met," said Madelaine. Madelaine has received several awards including the Tech Safety Innovation award at a prominent safety summit. Just over a year after founding her venture, Image Angel, which uses invisible forensic watermarking to identify perpetrators, has garnered significant recognition and was cited as exemplary procedure in an independent pornography review earlier this year. This represents quite a departure from her background in providing consensual sexual encounters, working with clients in the world of BDSM. The Pervasive Problem Intimate image abuse, often referred to as image-based abuse, is a criminal offence with perpetrators facing up to two years in prison. It is far from an issue exclusively faced by those in the adult entertainment sector. A study indicates that approximately 1.42% of the UK female population is impacted by intimate image abuse each year. Madelaine, thirty-seven, said survivors lived with feelings of humiliation. "In my view a lot of people will say, 'you put a saucy picture out on the internet, what do you anticipate?'," she noted. "I demand dignity, I expect respect, and I expect trust, 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 my loved ones and used to hurt them, that's beyond, that's not my choice, that's not an error on my part, that's an individual committing abuse." Madelaine hopes her tech will prevent would-be individuals from sharing photos without consent. An Unconventional Path Madelaine has been practicing as a professional dominatrix, primarily online, for 10 years and consistently found her work liberating and satisfying. "I am as a dominant woman, a woman who is confident and powerful, giving my body as a treat to someone because I wish to," she said. "Some believe it's strange but I don't see it any differently to a nutritionist or an accountant giving advice," she added. She welcomes being a unique figure in the technology sector. "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 required someone who has been through it to know the flaws and the modifications that needed to happen," she explained. She insisted she was not in the least bit techy and was able to build her company after many sleepless nights, research and "bugging people" who understand tech. Understanding the Tech Solution Image Angel can be implemented on any digital service where people share images, for instance social connection apps, social networks and websites. 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 embedded into the digital file of the image itself and can withstand screen shots, being altered and being re-captured with a secondary device. It ensures that if you find out your image has been circulated non-consensually, providing the service you used has the technology embedded, the viewer's details will be hidden within the image and can be retrieved by a data recovery specialist so legal steps can follow. To date, one service has adopted her tech and she's in discussions with many others. Proven Technology, New Application "This technology is already in use in the film industry, it is employed in sports broadcasting so this is not brand new technology, it's just a new application and a different framework," explained Madelaine. "And we've tested it, we're collaborating with a company that has decades of expertise in tech development so we know that this is solid and what we now need to do is test it at scale," she continued. She said she believed the technology would also act as a preventive measure to would-be perpetrators. Changing the Narrative An expert from a leading helpline commented she had seen first-hand the panic, distress and self-blame this abuse caused for victims. "When that guilt is compounded by a misinformed friend or professional who says 'what did you expect?' that guilt can really be reinforced so it's really important that the response a victim receives is that they have committed no error," she stated. She added it was fantastic that Madelaine was leveraging her ordeal to bring about change, saying: "It is vital to have this multi-layered approach towards tackling 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." Both women have been victims of experiencing their intimate images shared non-consensually. TV presenter Jess Davies was only fifteen when images of her in her underwear were circulated within her local community. It was the first of several incidents Jess endured in her youth that would later shape her women's rights campaigning. "It required years, too long for someone to tell me, 'it wasn't your fault' and 'that shouldn't have happened'," said Jess. She too is passionate about eliminating the shame of this crime from the victims to the offenders. "It isn't a crime to willingly share an image to someone," said Jess. "However, it is illegal to circulate that non-consensually and I think that should invariably be where the responsibility is," she concluded.