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BDSM practitioner Madelaine Thomas represents far from your typical tech founder. Following multiple instances of individuals distributing her intimate photographs, she felt "sufficiently outraged to take action" and turned to tech solutions for a solution.

"These were striking images, I'm not ashamed of the pictures, I'm embarrassed of the way that they were used against me by an individual who I don't know," explained Madelaine.

Little over a year since launching her venture, Image Angel, which employs invisible forensic watermarking to identify abusers, has won several awards and was cited as best practice in an government-commissioned study recently.

This represents quite a departure from her previous career in providing consensual sexual encounters, working with clients in the world of BDSM.

A Widespread Issue

The non-consensual sharing of private images, often referred to as revenge porn, is a punishable crime 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 study indicates that approximately 1.42% of the women in the UK is affected by this form of abuse on an annual basis.

Madelaine, thirty-seven, said victims endured feelings of humiliation. "I think a lot of people will comment, 'you shared a saucy picture out on the internet, what do you expect?'," she said.

"I demand dignity, I expect consideration, and I expect confidence, and I fail to understand why those are up for debate," she added. "The fact that those images could be subsequently distributed where I live or with people I love and used to hurt them, that's unacceptable, that's not my choice, that's not an error on my part, that's someone committing abuse."

An Unconventional Path

Madelaine has been practicing as a dominatrix, mainly online, for 10 years and consistently found her work liberating and satisfying. "It's me as a dominant woman, a woman who is confident and powerful, offering my body as a treat to someone of my own volition," she said.

"People think it's strange but I don't see it any differently to a nutritionist or an financial advisor providing a service," she added.

She welcomes being something of an anomaly in the technology sector. "I understand 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 took someone who has experienced it firsthand to know the flaws and the modifications that were necessary," she stated.

She maintained she was not technically inclined and was able to build her company after many sleepless nights, research and "bugging people" who know about tech.

Understanding the Tech Solution

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 seamlessly tagged with an undetectable digital marker which is specific to that viewer.

This covert marker is embedded into the copy of the image itself and can survive screenshots, being edited and being re-captured with a secondary device.

It means that if you discover your image has been shared without your consent, as long as the platform you posted it on has the technology embedded, the viewer's details will be encoded in the image and can be extracted by a data recovery specialist so legal steps can follow.

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

Proven Technology, New Application

"The system is already in use in Hollywood, it is employed in sports broadcasting so this is not brand new technology, it's just a new application and a different framework," said Madelaine.

"And we've tested it, we're partnering with a firm 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 continued.

She expressed hope she hoped the technology would also act as a deterrent to potential perpetrators.

Changing the Narrative

An advocate from a leading helpline said she had seen first-hand the trauma and guilt this abuse inflicted on victims.

"If that self-blame is reinforced 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 response somebody is provided with is that they have committed no error," she stated.

She noted it was fantastic that Madelaine was using her experience to bring about change, adding: "It is really important to have this comprehensive strategy towards addressing tech facilitated abuse, because a single solution 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 a state of undress were shared around her local community. It was the beginning of multiple violations Jess experienced in her youth that would later shape her advocacy work.

"It took so long, too long for someone to say to me, 'it wasn't your fault' and 'that shouldn't have happened'," recalled Jess.

She too is dedicated to eliminating the shame of this crime from the victims to the perpetrators. "It isn't a crime to consensually send an photo 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 concluded.