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Professional dominatrix Madelaine Thomas represents not at all your typical tech founder. After multiple instances of clients distributing her private explicit images, she felt "angry enough to do something about it" and turned to tech solutions for answers.

"Those were beautiful pictures, I'm not ashamed of the photographs, I'm ashamed of the manner that they were used against me by an individual who I have never met," explained Madelaine.

Little over a year since launching her venture, Image Angel, which employs covert digital tracking to track abusers, has garnered significant recognition and was recommended as best practice in an independent pornography review recently.

This represents quite a departure from her background in offering 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 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, 37, said survivors endured shame and stigma. "In my view a lot of people will say, 'you shared a saucy picture out on the internet, what do you anticipate?'," she noted.

"I expect dignity, I expect respect, and I expect trust, and I don't see why those are up for debate," she continued. "The fact that those images could be then shared in my community or with people I love and used to hurt them, that's beyond, that's not a decision I made, that's not an error on my part, that's someone being an abuser."

A Unique Journey

Madelaine has been working as a professional dominatrix, primarily online, for 10 years and always found her work liberating and satisfying. "It's me as a dominant woman, 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 unusual but I view it similarly to a personal trainer or an accountant providing a service," she remarked.

She welcomes being a unique figure in the world of tech. "I understand that it's unconventional, it's remarkable to think that someone who was a dominatrix is now a founder of a tech company, but it required someone who has experienced it firsthand to know the loopholes 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 "bugging people" who know about tech.

How Does the Technology Work?

Image Angel can be implemented on any digital service where people share images, for instance social connection apps, social media and online sites.

When an image is accessed by a viewer, it is automatically embedded with an undetectable digital marker which is unique to them.

This covert marker is embedded into the digital file of the image itself and can withstand screen shots, being edited and being re-captured with a secondary device.

It ensures that if you discover your image has been circulated non-consensually, as long as the service you posted it on has the technology embedded, the viewer's details will be encoded in the image and can be retrieved by a data recovery specialist so legal steps can follow.

Currently, one platform has adopted her tech and she's in discussions with several more.

Proven Technology, New Application

"The system already exists in the film industry, it is employed in live television so this is not brand new technology, it's just a new application and a new system," said Madelaine.

"We have validated it, we're partnering 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 deploy it widely," she continued.

She expressed hope she believed the technology would also act as a preventive measure to potential intimate image abusers.

Changing the Narrative

An advocate from a support service commented she had seen first-hand the panic, distress and self-blame this abuse inflicted on victims.

"When that guilt is compounded by a uninformed acquaintance or professional 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 somebody is provided with is that they have not done anything wrong," she emphasized.

She added it was inspiring that Madelaine was using her experience to create solutions, adding: "It is vital to have this comprehensive strategy towards tackling tech facilitated gender-based abuse, because a single solution is going to be able to solve this problem, no one helpline, it needs to be this integrated effort."

TV presenter Jess Davies was just 15 when images of her in her underwear were shared around her town. It was the first of several incidents Jess experienced in her youth that would later inform her advocacy work.

"It took so long, an excessive amount of time for someone to tell me, 'you are not to blame' and 'that shouldn't have happened'," recalled Jess.

She too is passionate about removing the stigma of intimate image abuse from the victims to the perpetrators. "There is no offence to consensually send an image to someone," stated Jess.

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