🔗 Share this article Transitioning from BDSM Practitioner to Tech Founder: An Unconventional Campaign To Combat Intimate Image Abuse Madelaine Thomas states her personal experience of experiencing her intimate images leaked offers her a unique insight as a technology entrepreneur. BDSM practitioner Madelaine Thomas embodies far from your average tech founder. Following multiple occurrences of individuals distributing her private explicit images, she felt "sufficiently outraged to do something about it" and turned to technology for a solution. "Those were beautiful pictures, I'm not ashamed of the photographs, I'm embarrassed of the way that they were weaponized by someone who I don't know," stated Madelaine. Madelaine has won multiple accolades including the Innovation in Tech Safety award at a prominent industry conference. Little over a year since founding her venture, Image Angel, which uses covert digital tracking to track abusers, has won several awards and was recommended as best practice in an independent pornography review recently. This marks quite a departure from her background in providing consensual sexual encounters, dominating clients in the world of kink and bondage. A Widespread Issue Intimate image abuse, commonly known as image-based abuse, is a punishable crime with perpetrators facing up to two years in prison. It is not at all an issue uniquely experienced by those in the adult entertainment sector. A report indicates that approximately 1.42% of the women in the UK is affected by intimate image abuse on an annual basis. Madelaine, thirty-seven, said survivors lived with shame and stigma. "I think a lot of people will say, 'you shared a saucy picture out on the internet, what do you anticipate?'," she said. "I expect respect, I expect consideration, and I expect trust, and I don't see why those are negotiable," she added. "The reality that those images could be then shared where I live 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 an individual committing abuse." Madelaine hopes her technology will prevent potential individuals from sharing photos non-consensually. An Unconventional Path Madelaine has been working as a professional dominatrix, primarily online, for 10 years and consistently found her work liberating and satisfying. "It's me as a woman in control, a woman who is empowered and strong, offering my body as a treat to someone because I wish to," she described. "Some believe it's strange but I view it similarly to a nutritionist or an accountant providing a service," she remarked. She embraces being something of an anomaly in the technology sector. "I understand that it's bizarre, it's crazy to think that an individual who was a dominatrix is now a founder of a tech company, but it took someone who has experienced it firsthand to understand the flaws and the changes 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 sleepless 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 share images, for instance social connection 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 screenshots, being altered and being photographed with a secondary device. It ensures that if you find out your image has been shared without your consent, providing the service 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. Currently, one service has implemented her tech and she's in discussions 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 brand new technology, it's just a novel use and a new system," explained Madelaine. "We have validated it, we're partnering with a firm that has decades of expertise in developing technology so we are confident that this is solid and what we now need to do is test it at scale," she added. She expressed hope she hoped the technology would also act as a preventive measure to potential intimate image abusers. Removing Stigma, Shifting Blame An advocate from a support service said she had seen first-hand the panic, distress and self-blame intimate image abuse inflicted on victims. "When that guilt is compounded by a misinformed friend 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 added it was fantastic that Madelaine was using her experience to bring about change, adding: "It is vital to have this comprehensive strategy towards tackling technology-enabled abuse, because no one tool 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 having their intimate images distributed without their consent. TV presenter Jess Davies was just 15 when photographs of her in a state of undress were shared around her local community. It was the first of several incidents Jess endured in her teens and 20s that would later inform her advocacy work. "It took so long, too long for someone to say to me, 'it wasn't your fault' and 'that was wrong'," said Jess. She too is passionate about removing the stigma of intimate image abuse from the survivors to the offenders. "There is no offence to willingly share an image to someone," said Jess. "But it is a crime to circulate that non-consensually and I think that should invariably be where the responsibility is," she concluded.