🔗 Share this article From Dominatrix to Tech Founder: A Unique Campaign To Combat Intimate Image Abuse Madelaine Thomas says her personal experience of having her intimate images shared without consent provides her a distinct perspective as a technology entrepreneur. Professional dominatrix Madelaine Thomas represents far from your average startup entrepreneur. Following repeated occurrences of clients leaking her intimate photographs, she was "sufficiently outraged to do something about it" and looked to tech solutions for a solution. "Those were striking images, I'm not ashamed of the photographs, I'm ashamed of the manner that they were used against me by an individual who I have never met," said Madelaine. Madelaine has won several awards including the Innovation in Tech Safety award at a prominent industry conference. Just over a year after launching her company, Image Angel, which uses covert digital tracking to identify perpetrators, has won several awards and was cited as best practice in an government-commissioned study recently. This represents quite a departure from her background in offering consensual sexual encounters, dominating clients in the world of BDSM. A Widespread Issue The non-consensual sharing of private images, commonly known as image-based abuse, is a punishable crime with offenders facing up to two years in prison. It is not at all an issue uniquely experienced by those in the adult entertainment sector. A study indicates that around 1.42% of the women in the UK is impacted by this form of abuse on an annual basis. Madelaine, 37, explained survivors lived with feelings of humiliation. "I think a lot of people will say, 'you put a private image out on the internet, what do you anticipate?'," she noted. "I expect respect, I expect respect, and I expect trust, and I fail to understand why those are negotiable," 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 a decision I made, that's not an error on my part, that's someone committing abuse." Madelaine aims her tech will deter would-be intimate image abusers without consent. 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 dominant woman, a woman who is confident and powerful, giving my body as a gift to someone because I wish to," she described. "People think it's unusual but I view it similarly to a personal trainer or an financial advisor giving advice," she remarked. She embraces being a unique figure in the technology sector. "I know that it's unconventional, 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 experienced it firsthand to know the flaws and the changes that needed to happen," she explained. She insisted she was not technically inclined and was managed to build her company after many late nights, investigation and "consulting experts" who understand tech. Understanding the Tech Solution Image Angel can be used by any digital service where people share images, for instance dating apps, social networks and websites. When an image is viewed by a viewer, it is automatically embedded with an invisible forensic watermark which is specific to that viewer. This covert marker is embedded into the copy of the image itself and can survive screen shots, being altered and being photographed with a different camera. It means that if you discover your image has been shared non-consensually, providing the platform you posted it on has the system integrated, the sharer's information will be encoded in the image and can be extracted by a forensic expert so action can be taken. Currently, one platform has adopted her tech and she's in discussions with several more. Proven Technology, New Application "This technology already exists in the film industry, it already exists in live television so this is not an untested concept, it's just a new application and a new system," explained Madelaine. "And we've tested it, we're collaborating with a firm that has 30 years experience in tech development so we know that this is reliable and what we now need to do is deploy it widely," she added. She expressed hope she hoped the technology would also act as a preventive measure to potential perpetrators. Removing Stigma, Shifting Blame An advocate from a support service commented she had seen directly the trauma and guilt intimate image abuse caused for victims. "When that guilt is compounded by a misinformed friend or professional who says 'well, why did you take those images in the first place?' that self blame can really be reinforced so it's crucial that the support somebody is provided with is that they have committed no error," she stated. She noted it was fantastic that Madelaine was leveraging her ordeal to create solutions, adding: "It is vital to have this multi-layered approach towards addressing technology-enabled gender-based abuse, because no one tool is going to be able to tackle this alone, no one helpline, it needs to be this integrated effort." Madelaine Thomas and TV presenter Jess Davies have been victims of having their intimate images 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 beginning of multiple violations Jess endured in her teens and 20s that would later inform her women's rights campaigning. "It required years, too long for someone to tell me, 'you are not to blame' and 'that shouldn't have happened'," recalled Jess. She too is dedicated to removing the stigma of this crime from the survivors to the offenders. "It isn't a crime to willingly share an photo to someone," said Jess. "But it is a crime to circulate that without consent and I think that should always be where the responsibility is," she concluded.