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BDSM practitioner Madelaine Thomas represents not at all your typical startup entrepreneur. Following multiple occurrences of individuals leaking her intimate photographs, she was "angry enough to take action" and turned to technology for answers.

"Those were beautiful pictures, I'm unapologetic of the pictures, I'm ashamed of the manner that they were used against me by an individual who I don't know," said Madelaine.

Little 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 independent pornography review earlier this year.

This represents a significant shift 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 far from an issue exclusively faced by those in the adult entertainment sector. A study suggests that around 1.42% of the UK female population is affected by intimate image abuse on an annual basis.

Madelaine, 37, said survivors lived with feelings of humiliation. "In my view a lot of people will comment, 'you shared a saucy picture out on the internet, what do you expect?'," she said.

"I expect respect, I expect consideration, and I expect confidence, and I fail to understand why those are negotiable," she added. "The reality that those images could be subsequently distributed where I live or with my loved ones and employed to cause them pain, that's unacceptable, that's not my choice, that's not my mistake, that's someone being an abuser."

An Unconventional Path

Madelaine has been practicing as a dominatrix, primarily online, for 10 years and always found her work liberating and satisfying. "It's me 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 described.

"Some believe it's strange but I don't see it any differently to a personal trainer or an financial advisor providing a service," she remarked.

She welcomes being something of an anomaly in the technology sector. "I understand that it's bizarre, it's crazy to think that someone who was a dominatrix is now a founder of a tech company, but it required someone who has been through it to know the flaws and the modifications that needed to happen," she stated.

She insisted she was not technically inclined and was able to build her company after a lot of sleepless nights, research and "bugging people" who understand tech.

Understanding the Tech Solution

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

When an image is accessed by a viewer, it is seamlessly tagged with an invisible forensic watermark which is unique to them.

This invisible watermark is embedded into the copy of the image itself and can withstand screen shots, being edited 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 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 legal steps can follow.

Currently, one platform has adopted her tech and she's in talks with several more.

An Established Method for a New Purpose

"The system already exists in Hollywood, it is employed in live television so this is not an untested concept, it's just a new application and a new system," said 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 test it at scale," she added.

She expressed hope she hoped 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 directly the panic, distress and self-blame intimate image abuse caused for victims.

"If that self-blame is compounded by a misinformed friend or service who says 'well, why did you take those images in the first place?' that self blame can really be reinforced so it's really important that the support 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, saying: "It is really important to have this comprehensive strategy towards addressing technology-enabled gender-based abuse, because no one tool is going to be able to tackle this alone, not just support services, it needs to be this integrated effort."

TV presenter Jess Davies was only fifteen when photographs of her in her underwear were shared around her town. It was the first of several incidents Jess experienced in her youth that would later inform her women's rights campaigning.

"It required years, too long for someone to tell me, 'it wasn't your fault' and 'that shouldn't have happened'," recalled Jess.

She too is passionate about removing the stigma of this crime from the victims to the offenders. "It isn't a crime to willingly share an photo to someone," stated Jess.

"However, it is illegal to circulate that without consent and I think that should invariably be where the blame is," she concluded.