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BDSM practitioner Madelaine Thomas represents far from your standard startup entrepreneur. After repeated occurrences of individuals distributing her private explicit images, she felt "sufficiently outraged to take action" and turned to tech solutions for answers.

"Those were striking images, I'm unapologetic of the pictures, I'm ashamed of the manner that they were weaponized by an individual who I have never met," explained Madelaine.

Little over a year after launching her venture, Image Angel, which employs invisible forensic watermarking to track abusers, has won several awards and was cited as exemplary procedure in an government-commissioned study earlier this year.

This marks a significant shift from her previous career in offering consensual sexual encounters, working with clients in the realms of BDSM.

The Pervasive Problem

Intimate image abuse, commonly known as image-based abuse, is a criminal offence with offenders facing up to two years in prison.

It is far from an issue uniquely experienced by those in the sex industry. A report indicates that around 1.42% of the women in the UK is impacted by intimate image abuse on an annual basis.

Madelaine, thirty-seven, said victims lived with feelings of humiliation. "I think a lot of people will say, 'you shared a private image out on the internet, what do you anticipate?'," she said.

"I demand dignity, I expect consideration, and I expect trust, and I fail to understand why those are negotiable," she added. "The reality 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 my mistake, that's someone committing abuse."

A Unique Journey

Madelaine has been practicing as a dominatrix, primarily online, for a decade and always found her work empowering and fulfilling. "It's me as a dominant woman, a woman who is empowered and strong, giving my body as a treat to someone of my own volition," 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 added.

She embraces being a unique figure in the world of tech. "I understand that it's bizarre, it's crazy to think that an individual who was a dominatrix is now a creator of a technology firm, but it required someone who has been through it to understand the loopholes and the changes that needed to happen," she explained.

She maintained she was not technically inclined and was managed to build her company after a lot of late nights, investigation and "consulting experts" who know about tech.

How Does the Technology Work?

Image Angel can be used by any digital service where people exchange photos, for instance social connection apps, social networks and websites.

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 copy of the image itself and can withstand screen shots, being edited and being photographed with a different camera.

It means that if you discover your image has been shared without your consent, providing the service 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 action can be taken.

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

An Established Method for a New Purpose

"The system already exists in Hollywood, 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 partnering with a firm that has decades of expertise in tech development so we know that this is reliable and what we now need to do is deploy it widely," she added.

She said 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 commented she had seen directly the panic, distress and self-blame this abuse inflicted on victims.

"When that guilt is compounded by a misinformed friend or professional who says 'what did you expect?' that self blame can really be deepened so it's crucial that the support a victim receives is that they have not done anything wrong," she stated.

She added it was inspiring that Madelaine was using her experience to bring about change, adding: "It is really important to have this multi-layered approach towards addressing technology-enabled gender-based abuse, because a single solution is going to be able to tackle this alone, not just support services, it needs to be this multi-layered response."

TV presenter Jess Davies was only fifteen when photographs of her in a state of undress were circulated within her town. It was the first of several incidents Jess experienced in her teens and 20s that would later inform her advocacy work.

"It required years, too long for someone to say to me, 'you are not to blame' and 'that shouldn't have happened'," said Jess.

She too is dedicated to removing the stigma of intimate image abuse from the victims to the perpetrators. "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 invariably be where the blame is," she affirmed.