🔗 Share this article Transitioning from BDSM Practitioner to Technology Entrepreneur: An Unconventional Fight Against Revenge Porn Madelaine Thomas explains her first-hand ordeal of experiencing her private photos leaked provides her a unique insight as a technology entrepreneur. BDSM practitioner Madelaine Thomas is far from your typical tech founder. Following repeated instances of individuals leaking her private explicit images, she was "angry enough to do something about it" and turned to technology for a solution. "Those were beautiful pictures, I'm unapologetic of the pictures, I'm ashamed of the way that they were weaponized by someone who I have never met," explained Madelaine. Madelaine has won multiple accolades such as the Innovation in Tech Safety award at a prominent industry conference. Just over a year since launching her company, Image Angel, which employs invisible forensic watermarking to identify perpetrators, has garnered significant recognition and was recommended as best practice in an government-commissioned study recently. This represents quite a departure from her previous career in offering BDSM services, working with clients in the world of kink and bondage. A Widespread Issue Intimate image abuse, commonly known as revenge porn, is a criminal offence with perpetrators risking two years in prison. It is far from an issue exclusively faced by those in the adult entertainment sector. A report suggests that approximately 1.42% of the women in the UK is affected by intimate image abuse on an annual basis. Madelaine, 37, said survivors endured feelings of humiliation. "In my view a lot of people will comment, 'you put a saucy picture out on the internet, what do you expect?'," she said. "I demand dignity, I expect respect, and I expect trust, and I fail to understand why those are negotiable," 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 a decision I made, that's not an error on my part, that's an individual being an abuser." Madelaine aims her tech will prevent potential intimate image abusers non-consensually. A Unique Journey Madelaine has been working as a dominatrix, mainly online, for 10 years and consistently found her work liberating and satisfying. "I am as a woman in control, a woman who is empowered and strong, offering my body as a gift to someone of my own volition," she described. "Some believe it's unusual but I view it similarly to a personal trainer or an accountant providing a service," she added. She welcomes being something of an anomaly in the world of tech. "I know that it's bizarre, 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 been through it to know the flaws and the modifications that needed to happen," she stated. She insisted she was not in the least bit techy and was managed to build her company after a lot of late nights, research and "consulting experts" who know about tech. How Does the Technology Work? Image Angel can be used by any online platform where people share images, for instance social connection apps, social media and websites. When an image is viewed by a user, it is automatically embedded with an undetectable digital marker which is specific to that viewer. This covert marker is encoded within the digital file of the image itself and can survive screenshots, being altered and being photographed with a different camera. 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 system integrated, the viewer's details will be hidden within the image and can be extracted by a forensic expert so action can be taken. To date, one service has implemented her tech and she's in discussions with many others. Proven Technology, New Application "The system 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," said Madelaine. "And we've tested it, we're collaborating with a company that has decades of expertise in developing technology so we know that this is reliable and what we now need to do is test it at scale," she added. She said she hoped the technology would also act as a preventive measure to would-be intimate image abusers. Changing the Narrative An advocate from a support service commented she had seen first-hand the panic, distress and self-blame intimate image abuse inflicted on victims. "If that self-blame is reinforced by a misinformed friend or professional who says 'well, why did you take those images in the first place?' that guilt can really be reinforced so it's crucial that the response a victim receives is that they have not done anything wrong," she emphasized. She added 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 tech facilitated abuse, because a single solution is going to be able to solve this problem, no one helpline, it needs to be this integrated effort." Madelaine Thomas and TV presenter Jess Davies have experienced experiencing their private photos shared non-consensually. TV presenter Jess Davies was just 15 when images of her in a state of undress were shared around her town. It was the beginning of multiple violations Jess endured in her teens and 20s that would later shape 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'," recalled Jess. She too is passionate about eliminating the shame of this crime from the survivors to the offenders. "There is no offence to consensually send an image to someone," stated Jess. "However, it is illegal to circulate that without consent and I think that should always be where the blame is," she affirmed.