🔗 Share this article From BDSM Practitioner to Technology Entrepreneur: A Unique Campaign To Combat Revenge Porn Madelaine Thomas states her personal experience of having her private photos leaked provides her a distinct perspective as a technology entrepreneur. BDSM practitioner Madelaine Thomas embodies not at all your average tech founder. Following repeated instances of clients leaking her private explicit images, she felt "sufficiently outraged to take action" and looked to technology for answers. "These were beautiful pictures, I'm unapologetic of the pictures, I'm embarrassed of the way that they were used against me by an individual who I have never met," said Madelaine. Madelaine has received several awards including the Innovation in Tech Safety award at a major safety summit. Little over a year after launching her venture, Image Angel, which uses covert digital tracking to track perpetrators, has garnered significant recognition and was cited as exemplary procedure in an government-commissioned study recently. This represents quite a departure from her previous career in offering 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 offenders risking two years in prison. It is not at all an issue uniquely experienced by those in the sex industry. A study indicates that approximately 1.42% of the UK female population is impacted by intimate image abuse on an annual basis. Madelaine, thirty-seven, said victims lived with feelings of humiliation. "In my view a lot of people will say, 'you put a saucy picture out on the internet, what do you anticipate?'," she said. "I demand dignity, I expect respect, and I expect confidence, and I fail to understand why those are up for debate," she continued. "The fact that those images could be subsequently distributed 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 someone being an abuser." Madelaine hopes her technology will prevent potential intimate image abusers without consent. A Unique Journey Madelaine has been practicing as a professional dominatrix, primarily online, for 10 years and always found her work liberating and satisfying. "I am as a woman in control, a woman who is empowered and strong, giving my body as a treat to someone of my own volition," she said. "Some believe it's strange but I view it similarly to a nutritionist or an financial advisor giving advice," she added. She welcomes being a unique figure in the technology sector. "I know that it's bizarre, it's crazy to think that someone who was a dominatrix is now a creator of a tech company, but it required someone who has been through it to know the loopholes and the modifications that needed to happen," she explained. She insisted she was not technically inclined and was managed 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 networks and online sites. When an image is accessed by a user, it is automatically embedded with an invisible forensic watermark 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 re-captured with a different camera. It ensures that if you find out your image has been shared without your consent, as long as the service you used has the technology embedded, the viewer's details will be hidden within the image and can be extracted by a forensic expert so legal steps can follow. To date, one service has implemented 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 already exists in sports broadcasting so this is not brand new technology, it's just a novel use and a new system," said Madelaine. "And we've tested it, we're partnering with a company that has 30 years experience in tech development so we know that this is solid and what we now need to do is deploy it widely," she continued. She said she believed the technology would also act as a preventive measure to would-be intimate image abusers. Removing Stigma, Shifting Blame An advocate from a leading helpline said she had seen first-hand the panic, distress and self-blame this abuse caused for victims. "If that self-blame is reinforced by a misinformed friend or professional who says 'what did you expect?' that guilt can really be deepened so it's really important 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 vital to have this multi-layered approach towards addressing tech facilitated abuse, because no one tool is going to be able to tackle this alone, not just support services, it needs to be this multi-layered response." Both women have experienced experiencing their private photos distributed without their consent. TV presenter Jess Davies was just 15 when images of her in her underwear were shared around her local community. It was the first of several incidents Jess endured in her youth that would later shape her advocacy work. "It required years, an excessive amount of time for someone to tell me, 'it wasn't your fault' and 'that was wrong'," recalled Jess. She too is passionate about eliminating the shame of this crime from the victims to the offenders. "It isn't a crime to willingly share an image to someone," stated Jess. "However, it is illegal to circulate that non-consensually and I think that should invariably be where the responsibility is," she affirmed.