🔗 Share this article From Professional Dominatrix to Technology Entrepreneur: A Unique Campaign To Combat Intimate Image Abuse Madelaine Thomas states her first-hand ordeal of having her intimate images leaked gives her a distinct perspective as a technology entrepreneur. BDSM practitioner Madelaine Thomas embodies far from your typical tech founder. Following multiple occurrences of individuals distributing her intimate photographs, she was "sufficiently outraged to do something about it" and turned to tech solutions for a solution. "Those were striking images, I'm unapologetic of the pictures, I'm embarrassed of the way that they were used against me by someone who I don't know," said Madelaine. Madelaine has won several awards such as the Tech Safety Innovation award at a major industry conference. Little over a year since founding her company, Image Angel, which employs invisible forensic watermarking to identify perpetrators, has won several awards and was cited as exemplary procedure in an independent pornography review recently. This represents a significant shift from her previous career in providing BDSM services, working with clients in the world of BDSM. The Pervasive Problem Intimate image abuse, commonly known as image-based abuse, is a criminal offence with perpetrators facing up to two years in prison. It is not at all an issue exclusively faced by those in the adult entertainment sector. A study indicates that around 1.42% of the UK female population is affected by this form of abuse on an annual basis. Madelaine, 37, said survivors lived with feelings of humiliation. "I think a lot of people will say, 'you shared a saucy picture out on the internet, what do you expect?'," she said. "I expect dignity, I expect respect, and I expect confidence, and I fail to understand why those are up for debate," she continued. "The reality that those images could be then shared where I live or with my loved ones and employed to cause them pain, that's unacceptable, that's not my choice, that's not my mistake, that's an individual committing abuse." Madelaine aims her tech will deter would-be individuals from sharing photos non-consensually. A Unique Journey Madelaine has been practicing as a professional 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, offering my body as a treat to someone because I wish to," she said. "People think it's unusual but I view it similarly to a nutritionist or an financial advisor giving advice," she remarked. She embraces being a unique figure in the technology sector. "I know that it's bizarre, it's remarkable 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 understand the loopholes and the modifications that needed to happen," she stated. She maintained she was not in the least bit techy and was able to build her company after a lot of sleepless nights, research and "bugging people" who understand tech. How Does the Technology Work? Image Angel can be implemented on any digital service where people exchange photos, for instance social connection 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 embedded into the digital file of the image itself and can withstand screenshots, being edited and being photographed with a different camera. It means that if you find out your image has been shared without your consent, as long as the platform 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 platform has adopted her tech and she's in talks with several more. Proven Technology, New Application "This technology is already in use in the film industry, it is employed in sports broadcasting so this is not an untested concept, it's just a new application and a different framework," explained Madelaine. "And we've tested it, we're collaborating with a firm 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 added. She said she hoped the technology would also act as a deterrent to would-be perpetrators. Changing the Narrative 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 deepened so it's crucial that the response a victim receives is that they have committed no error," she stated. She noted it was inspiring that Madelaine was leveraging her ordeal to create solutions, adding: "It is really important to have this multi-layered approach towards addressing technology-enabled abuse, because a single solution is going to be able to tackle this alone, no one helpline, it needs to be this integrated effort." Both women have been victims of having their private photos distributed without their consent. TV presenter Jess Davies was just 15 when photographs of her in a state of undress were shared around her town. It was the beginning of multiple violations Jess endured in her teens and 20s that would later shape her advocacy work. "It took so long, too long for someone to tell me, 'it wasn't your fault' and 'that was wrong'," said Jess. She too is passionate about eliminating the shame of this crime from the survivors to the perpetrators. "There is no offence to consensually send an photo to someone," said Jess. "But it is a crime to distribute that non-consensually and I think that should invariably be where the responsibility is," she concluded.