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Professional dominatrix Madelaine Thomas embodies far from your standard tech founder. Following repeated instances of clients leaking her private explicit images, she felt "sufficiently outraged to take action" and turned to tech solutions for a solution.

"Those were striking images, I'm unapologetic of the pictures, I'm ashamed of the manner that they were used against me by an individual who I don't know," explained Madelaine.

Just over a year after launching her venture, Image Angel, which employs covert digital tracking to identify abusers, has garnered significant recognition and was cited as exemplary procedure in an independent pornography review earlier this year.

This marks a significant shift from her previous career in providing consensual sexual encounters, working with clients in the world of kink and bondage.

The Pervasive Problem

Intimate image abuse, commonly known as revenge porn, is a punishable crime with offenders risking two years in prison.

It is far from an issue uniquely experienced by those in the adult entertainment sector. A study indicates that approximately 1.42% of the UK female population is impacted by this form of abuse each year.

Madelaine, 37, explained survivors lived with feelings of humiliation. "I think a lot of people will comment, 'you put a saucy picture out on the internet, what do you expect?'," she said.

"I demand dignity, I expect respect, and I expect confidence, and I don't see why those are negotiable," she added. "The fact that those images could be subsequently distributed where I live or with people I love and employed to cause them pain, that's unacceptable, that's not a decision I made, that's not an error on my part, that's an individual committing abuse."

A Unique Journey

Madelaine has been practicing as a dominatrix, primarily online, for a decade and consistently found her work liberating and satisfying. "It's me as a woman in control, a woman who is empowered and strong, giving my body as a gift 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 financial advisor giving advice," she remarked.

She embraces being something of an anomaly in the world of tech. "I know that it's bizarre, 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 experienced it firsthand to understand the loopholes and the changes that needed to happen," she stated.

She insisted she was not in the least bit techy and was able to build her company after many late nights, research and "consulting experts" who understand tech.

Understanding the Tech Solution

Image Angel can be implemented on any online platform where people exchange photos, for instance dating apps, social networks and websites.

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

This invisible watermark is encoded within the digital file of the image itself and can survive screenshots, being altered and being photographed with a secondary device.

It means that if you find out your image has been shared without your consent, as long as the platform you used has the system integrated, the sharer's information will be encoded in the image and can be retrieved by a data recovery specialist so legal steps can follow.

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

An Established Method for a New Purpose

"The system is already in use in Hollywood, it is employed in live television so this is not brand new technology, it's just a novel use and a new system," 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 solid and what we now need to do is deploy it widely," she added.

She said she believed the technology would also act as a preventive measure to would-be intimate image abusers.

Removing Stigma, Shifting Blame

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

"When that guilt is compounded by a misinformed friend or professional who says 'well, why did you take those images in the first place?' that self blame can really be reinforced so it's crucial that the support somebody is provided with is that they have not done anything wrong," she stated.

She added it was fantastic that Madelaine was leveraging her ordeal to create solutions, saying: "It is vital to have this multi-layered approach towards addressing technology-enabled gender-based abuse, because no one tool is going to be able to tackle this alone, not just support services, it needs to be this integrated effort."

TV presenter Jess Davies was only fifteen when images of her in a state of undress 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 took so long, an excessive amount of time for someone to tell me, 'it wasn't your fault' and 'that was wrong'," said Jess.

She too is passionate about removing the stigma of this crime from the survivors to the perpetrators. "It isn't a crime to willingly share an image to someone," said Jess.

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