🔗 Share this article From Dominatrix to Technology Entrepreneur: A Unique Fight Against Revenge Porn Madelaine Thomas states her personal experience of having her intimate images shared without consent offers her a distinct perspective as a technology entrepreneur. BDSM practitioner Madelaine Thomas is not at all your average tech founder. Following repeated occurrences of clients distributing her intimate photographs, she felt "angry enough to take action" and turned to technology for a solution. "Those were striking images, I'm unapologetic of the photographs, I'm ashamed of the manner that they were weaponized by an individual who I don't know," said Madelaine. Madelaine has won multiple accolades including the Tech Safety Innovation award at a major safety summit. Just over a year since launching her venture, Image Angel, which employs invisible forensic watermarking to track abusers, has garnered significant recognition and was cited as exemplary procedure in an government-commissioned study earlier this year. This represents a significant shift from her background in offering BDSM services, working with clients in the realms of BDSM. A Widespread Issue Intimate image abuse, commonly known as image-based abuse, is a criminal offence with perpetrators facing up to two years in prison. It is far from an issue uniquely experienced by those in the adult entertainment sector. A report indicates that around 1.42% of the UK female population is impacted by this form of abuse each year. Madelaine, thirty-seven, explained victims lived with feelings of humiliation. "In my view a lot of people will comment, 'you shared a saucy picture out on the internet, what do you anticipate?'," she said. "I demand dignity, I expect respect, and I expect trust, and I fail to understand why those are negotiable," she added. "The reality that those images could be subsequently distributed where I live or with people I love and employed to cause them pain, that's beyond, that's not a decision I made, that's not my mistake, that's an individual committing abuse." Madelaine hopes her technology will prevent potential individuals from sharing photos non-consensually. An Unconventional Path Madelaine has been practicing as a dominatrix, primarily online, for 10 years and consistently found her work liberating and satisfying. "I am as a dominant woman, a woman who is empowered and strong, giving my body as a gift to someone because I wish to," she described. "Some believe it's strange but I don't see it any differently to a personal trainer or an financial advisor giving advice," she remarked. She embraces being a unique figure in the technology sector. "I know that it's unconventional, it's remarkable to think that someone who was a dominatrix is now a founder of a technology firm, but it required someone who has been through it to know the loopholes and the changes that were necessary," she stated. She insisted she was not technically inclined and was able to build her company after many sleepless nights, research and "bugging people" who know about tech. How Does the Technology Work? Image Angel can be implemented on any online platform where people share images, for instance social connection apps, social networks and online sites. When an image is viewed by a user, it is automatically embedded with an invisible forensic watermark which is specific to that viewer. This invisible watermark is encoded within the copy of the image itself and can withstand screen shots, being altered and being photographed with a secondary device. It ensures that if you find out your image has been circulated without your consent, providing the service you posted it on has the technology embedded, the sharer's information will be encoded in the image and can be retrieved by a data recovery specialist so action can be taken. To date, one platform has implemented her tech and she's in talks with several more. An Established Method for a New Purpose "The system is already in use in the film industry, it is employed in live television so this is not an untested concept, it's just a new application and a different framework," said Madelaine. "We have validated it, we're partnering 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 expressed hope she believed the technology would also act as a deterrent to would-be intimate image abusers. Changing the Narrative An advocate from a leading helpline said she had seen directly the trauma and guilt this abuse inflicted on victims. "If that self-blame is compounded by a uninformed acquaintance or professional who says 'well, why did you take those images in the first place?' that guilt can really be deepened so it's really important that the response somebody is provided with is that they have not done anything wrong," she emphasized. She noted it was inspiring that Madelaine was leveraging her ordeal to create solutions, saying: "It is vital to have this multi-layered approach towards tackling 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 multi-layered response." Both women have experienced experiencing their private photos distributed non-consensually. TV presenter Jess Davies was just 15 when images of her in her underwear were circulated within her local community. It was the first of several incidents Jess experienced in her teens and 20s 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 dedicated to eliminating the shame of intimate image abuse from the survivors to the offenders. "There is no offence to willingly share an photo to someone," stated Jess. "But it is a crime to distribute that without consent and I think that should always be where the responsibility is," she concluded.