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BDSM practitioner Madelaine Thomas represents not at all your standard startup entrepreneur. Following multiple instances of individuals distributing her private explicit images, she was "angry enough to take action" and turned to technology for answers.

"Those were beautiful pictures, I'm unapologetic of the photographs, I'm embarrassed of the way that they were used against me by someone who I have never met," stated Madelaine.

Just over a year since launching her venture, Image Angel, which uses covert digital tracking to identify abusers, has won several awards and was recommended as best practice in an independent pornography review earlier this year.

This represents quite a departure from her previous career in providing consensual sexual encounters, dominating clients in the world of kink and bondage.

A Widespread Issue

The non-consensual sharing of private images, commonly known as revenge porn, is a punishable crime with perpetrators risking two years in prison.

It is not at all an issue exclusively faced by those in the sex industry. A study suggests that around 1.42% of the UK female population is affected by intimate image abuse each year.

Madelaine, thirty-seven, said survivors endured shame and stigma. "I think a lot of people will comment, 'you shared a private image out on the internet, what do you anticipate?'," she said.

"I expect dignity, I expect respect, and I expect trust, and I fail to understand why those are up for debate," she added. "The reality that those images could be subsequently distributed in my community or with my loved ones and employed to cause them pain, that's beyond, that's not a decision I made, that's not an error on my part, that's someone committing abuse."

An Unconventional Path

Madelaine has been working as a professional dominatrix, mainly online, for a decade and always found her work empowering and fulfilling. "I am as a woman in control, a woman who is confident and powerful, offering my body as a gift to someone because I wish to," she said.

"Some believe it's unusual but I don't see it any differently to a nutritionist or an accountant giving advice," she remarked.

She embraces being something of an anomaly in the technology sector. "I know that it's bizarre, it's remarkable to think that an individual who was a dominatrix is now a creator of a technology firm, but it took someone who has been through it to know the flaws and the modifications that were necessary," she explained.

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

Understanding the Tech Solution

Image Angel can be implemented on any digital service where people share images, for instance social connection apps, social media and online sites.

When an image is viewed by a viewer, it is seamlessly tagged with an undetectable digital marker which is unique to them.

This covert marker is embedded into the digital file of the image itself and can withstand screenshots, being edited and being re-captured with a different camera.

It ensures that if you discover your image has been circulated non-consensually, providing the platform you used has the technology embedded, the viewer's details will be hidden within the image and can be retrieved by a data recovery specialist so action can be taken.

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

Proven Technology, New Application

"This technology is already in use in the film industry, it is employed in sports broadcasting so this is not brand new technology, it's just a new application and a new system," explained Madelaine.

"And we've tested it, we're partnering with a company that has decades of expertise in tech development so we know that this is solid and what we now need to do is deploy it widely," she continued.

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

Changing the Narrative

An expert from a leading helpline said she had seen first-hand the trauma and guilt this abuse caused for victims.

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

She noted it was inspiring that Madelaine was using her experience to create solutions, adding: "It is really important to have this comprehensive strategy towards tackling technology-enabled abuse, because a single solution is going to be able to solve this problem, not just support services, it needs to be this multi-layered response."

TV presenter Jess Davies was only fifteen when photographs of her in her underwear were shared around her town. It was the beginning of multiple violations Jess experienced in her teens and 20s that would later shape her advocacy work.

"It took so long, an excessive amount of time for someone to tell me, 'it wasn't your fault' and 'that was wrong'," recalled Jess.

She too is dedicated to eliminating the shame of this crime from the survivors to the perpetrators. "It isn't a crime to consensually send an image to someone," stated Jess.

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