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Professional dominatrix Madelaine Thomas embodies not at all your average startup entrepreneur. Following repeated occurrences of clients leaking her private explicit images, she felt "sufficiently outraged to do something about it" and turned to tech solutions for answers.

"These were striking images, I'm unapologetic of the photographs, I'm embarrassed of the way that they were weaponized by someone who I have never met," stated Madelaine.

Little over a year after founding her venture, Image Angel, which uses covert digital tracking to track abusers, has won several awards and was recommended as exemplary procedure in an independent pornography review earlier this year.

This marks a significant shift from her background in offering consensual sexual encounters, dominating clients in the realms of kink and bondage.

The Pervasive Problem

Intimate image abuse, often referred to as image-based abuse, is a punishable crime with perpetrators risking two years in prison.

It is not at all an issue exclusively faced by those in the sex industry. A report suggests that around 1.42% of the UK female population is affected by intimate image abuse on an annual basis.

Madelaine, thirty-seven, said survivors lived with feelings of humiliation. "In my view a lot of people will comment, 'you put a saucy picture out on the internet, what do you expect?'," she noted.

"I expect respect, I expect respect, and I expect trust, and I don't see why those are up for debate," she added. "The fact 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 someone being an abuser."

A Unique Journey

Madelaine has been practicing as a professional dominatrix, mainly online, for a decade and consistently found her work empowering and fulfilling. "I am as a dominant woman, a woman who is empowered and strong, offering my body as a gift to someone of my own volition," she described.

"People think it's unusual but I view it similarly to a nutritionist or an financial advisor providing a service," she remarked.

She embraces being something of an anomaly in the world of tech. "I know that it's unconventional, it's crazy to think that someone who was a dominatrix is now a creator of a tech company, but it took someone who has experienced it firsthand to know the flaws and the changes that were necessary," she explained.

She maintained 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 know about tech.

Understanding the Tech Solution

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

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

This invisible watermark is embedded into the digital file of the image itself and can survive screen shots, being edited and being photographed with a different camera.

It ensures that if you discover your image has been circulated non-consensually, providing the platform you posted it on has the system integrated, the sharer's information will be encoded in the image and can be retrieved by a forensic expert so legal steps can follow.

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

An Established Method for a New Purpose

"This technology already exists in the film industry, it already exists in sports broadcasting so this is not brand new technology, it's just a novel use and a different framework," explained Madelaine.

"We have validated it, we're partnering with a company 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 added.

She said she hoped the technology would also act as a deterrent to would-be intimate image abusers.

Removing Stigma, Shifting Blame

An expert from a leading helpline said she had seen first-hand the trauma and guilt intimate image abuse caused for victims.

"When that guilt is compounded by a uninformed acquaintance or service who says 'what did you expect?' that self blame can really be reinforced so it's really important that the support somebody is provided with is that they have committed no error," she stated.

She added it was inspiring that Madelaine was using her experience to create solutions, saying: "It is vital to have this multi-layered approach towards tackling technology-enabled abuse, because no one tool is going to be able to tackle this alone, no one helpline, it needs to be this integrated effort."

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 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 dedicated to removing the stigma of this crime from the victims to the offenders. "There is no offence to consensually send an image to someone," stated Jess.

"But it is a crime to distribute that non-consensually and I think that should invariably be where the responsibility is," she concluded.