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Professional dominatrix Madelaine Thomas represents not at all your average startup entrepreneur. After multiple instances of individuals distributing her private explicit images, she felt "angry enough to take action" and turned to technology for answers.

"Those were striking images, I'm unapologetic of the photographs, I'm embarrassed of the way that they were used against me by someone who I don't know," stated Madelaine.

Just over a year after founding her company, Image Angel, which employs covert digital tracking to track perpetrators, has won several awards and was cited as exemplary procedure in an government-commissioned study recently.

This represents a significant shift from her background in offering consensual sexual encounters, working with clients in the world of kink and bondage.

A Widespread Issue

The non-consensual sharing of private images, often referred to as image-based abuse, is a punishable crime with offenders facing up to two years in prison.

It is not at all an issue uniquely experienced by those in the sex industry. A report suggests that approximately 1.42% of the UK female population is affected 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 private image out on the internet, what do you expect?'," she noted.

"I demand respect, I expect consideration, and I expect confidence, and I don't see why those are up for debate," she continued. "The fact that those images could be then shared where I live or with my loved ones and used to hurt them, that's beyond, that's not my choice, that's not an error on my part, that's an individual being an abuser."

An Unconventional Path

Madelaine has been working as a 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.

"Some believe it's unusual but I view it similarly to a nutritionist or an accountant providing a service," she remarked.

She welcomes being something of an anomaly in the world of tech. "I understand that it's bizarre, it's remarkable to think that someone who was a dominatrix is now a creator of a technology firm, but it required someone who has been through it to know the loopholes and the modifications that needed to happen," she explained.

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

Understanding the Tech Solution

Image Angel can be implemented on any digital service where people exchange photos, for instance dating apps, social media and websites.

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

This invisible watermark is embedded into the copy of the image itself and can survive screen shots, being edited and being photographed with a secondary device.

It ensures that if you discover your image has been shared non-consensually, as long as the service you posted it on has the system integrated, the sharer's information will be hidden within the image and can be extracted by a forensic expert so action can be taken.

To date, one service has adopted her tech and she's in discussions with several more.

An Established Method for a New Purpose

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

"We have validated it, we're partnering with a company that has decades of expertise in tech development so we are confident that this is solid and what we now need to do is test it at scale," she continued.

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

Removing Stigma, Shifting Blame

An advocate from a support service commented she had seen first-hand the panic, distress and self-blame intimate image abuse caused for victims.

"If that self-blame is compounded by a uninformed acquaintance or professional who says 'what did you expect?' that guilt can really be reinforced so it's really important that the response a victim receives is that they have not done anything wrong," she stated.

She noted it was inspiring that Madelaine was leveraging her ordeal to bring about change, saying: "It is really important to have this comprehensive strategy towards tackling technology-enabled gender-based abuse, because no one tool 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 photographs of her in her underwear were circulated within her local community. It was the beginning of multiple violations Jess experienced in her youth that would later shape her advocacy work.

"It required years, an excessive amount of time for someone to say to me, 'it wasn't your fault' and 'that shouldn't have happened'," recalled Jess.

She too is passionate about removing the stigma of intimate image abuse from the survivors to the offenders. "It isn't a crime to willingly share an image to someone," stated Jess.

"But it is a crime to circulate that non-consensually and I think that should always be where the responsibility is," she affirmed.