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Professional dominatrix Madelaine Thomas represents not at all your average startup entrepreneur. Following repeated instances of individuals leaking her private explicit images, she felt "sufficiently outraged to take action" and looked to tech solutions for answers.

"Those were beautiful pictures, I'm not ashamed of the pictures, I'm embarrassed of the way that they were used against me by someone who I don't know," stated Madelaine.

Little over a year since launching her company, Image Angel, which uses invisible forensic watermarking to track perpetrators, has won several awards and was recommended as best practice in an independent pornography review earlier this year.

This marks a significant shift from her background in providing consensual sexual encounters, dominating clients in the world of BDSM.

The Pervasive Problem

The non-consensual sharing of private images, often referred to as revenge porn, is a criminal offence with offenders facing up to two years in prison.

It is far from an issue uniquely experienced by those in the sex industry. A study suggests that around 1.42% of the UK female population is affected by this form of abuse each year.

Madelaine, thirty-seven, said victims endured shame and stigma. "I think a lot of people will say, 'you shared a private image out on the internet, what do you expect?'," she said.

"I demand dignity, I expect respect, and I expect trust, and I fail to understand why those are up for debate," she added. "The fact that those images could be then shared in my community or with people I love and employed to cause them pain, that's unacceptable, that's not my choice, that's not my mistake, that's someone being an abuser."

A Unique Journey

Madelaine has been working as a dominatrix, mainly online, for a decade and consistently found her work empowering and fulfilling. "It's me as a dominant woman, a woman who is confident and powerful, giving my body as a treat to someone of my own volition," she described.

"Some believe it's unusual 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 technology sector. "I understand that it's unconventional, it's crazy to think that someone who was a dominatrix is now a founder of a technology firm, but it took 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 a lot of late nights, research and "consulting experts" who understand tech.

Understanding the Tech Solution

Image Angel can be used by any digital service where people share images, for instance dating apps, social networks and websites.

When an image is accessed by a viewer, it is seamlessly tagged with an undetectable digital marker which is specific to that viewer.

This covert marker is encoded within the digital file of the image itself and can withstand screenshots, being edited 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 forensic expert so action can be taken.

To date, one service has adopted her tech and she's in discussions with many others.

Proven Technology, New Application

"This technology already exists in Hollywood, it already exists in live television so this is not an untested concept, it's just a novel use and a different framework," said Madelaine.

"And we've tested it, we're partnering 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 test it at scale," she continued.

She expressed hope she believed the technology would also act as a preventive measure to would-be perpetrators.

Removing Stigma, Shifting Blame

An advocate from a leading helpline commented she had seen directly the panic, distress and self-blame this abuse inflicted on victims.

"When that guilt 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 response a victim receives is that they have not done anything wrong," she emphasized.

She noted 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 abuse, because no one tool is going to be able to tackle this alone, not just support services, it needs to be this multi-layered response."

TV presenter Jess Davies was just 15 when images of her in her underwear were circulated within her town. It was the beginning of multiple violations Jess experienced in her youth that would later shape her advocacy work.

"It required years, too long for someone to tell me, 'it wasn't your fault' and 'that was wrong'," recalled Jess.

She too is passionate about removing the stigma of intimate image abuse from the victims to the offenders. "It isn't a crime to willingly share an photo to someone," said Jess.

"But it is a crime to circulate that without consent and I think that should always be where the blame is," she affirmed.