🔗 Share this article

BDSM practitioner Madelaine Thomas embodies not at all your standard startup entrepreneur. Following multiple instances of individuals distributing her private explicit images, she was "sufficiently outraged to do something about it" and turned to tech solutions for a solution.

"Those were striking images, I'm unapologetic of the pictures, I'm embarrassed of the manner that they were used against me by an individual who I have never met," stated Madelaine.

Just over a year since launching her company, Image Angel, which employs invisible forensic watermarking to identify abusers, has garnered significant recognition and was cited as exemplary procedure in an independent pornography review recently.

This marks a significant shift from her previous career in providing BDSM services, working with clients in the realms 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 exclusively faced by those in the sex industry. A study indicates that around 1.42% of the women in the UK is impacted by this form of abuse each year.

Madelaine, 37, said victims endured feelings of humiliation. "In my view a lot of people will say, 'you put a saucy picture out on the internet, what do you expect?'," she noted.

"I demand dignity, I expect respect, 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 people I love and employed to cause them pain, that's beyond, that's not my choice, that's not an error on my part, that's an individual committing abuse."

A Unique Journey

Madelaine has been working as a professional dominatrix, primarily online, for 10 years and always found her work liberating and satisfying. "I am as a dominant woman, a woman who is empowered and strong, offering my body as a treat to someone of my own volition," she said.

"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 a unique figure in the world of tech. "I understand that it's bizarre, it's remarkable to think that someone who was a dominatrix is now a creator of a technology firm, but it required someone who has been through it to know the loopholes and the modifications that were necessary," she stated.

She maintained she was not technically inclined and was managed to build her company after a lot of sleepless nights, research and "consulting experts" who understand tech.

Understanding the Tech Solution

Image Angel can be implemented on any digital service where people exchange photos, for instance social connection apps, social networks and websites.

When an image is accessed by a viewer, it is automatically embedded with an undetectable digital marker which is unique to them.

This covert marker is embedded into the digital file of the image itself and can withstand screenshots, being altered 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 platform you posted it on has the technology embedded, the sharer's information will be hidden within the image and can be retrieved by a forensic expert so legal steps can follow.

To date, one platform has adopted her tech and she's in discussions with several more.

Proven Technology, New Application

"The system already exists in Hollywood, it already exists in sports broadcasting so this is not brand new technology, it's just a new application and a new system," explained 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 reliable and what we now need to do is test it at scale," she continued.

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 directly the panic, distress and self-blame intimate image abuse caused for victims.

"If that self-blame is compounded by a uninformed acquaintance or service who says 'well, why did you take those images in the first place?' that guilt can really be deepened so it's really important that the response somebody is provided with is that they have committed no error," she emphasized.

She noted it was inspiring that Madelaine was leveraging her ordeal to bring about change, adding: "It is vital to have this comprehensive strategy towards addressing tech facilitated gender-based abuse, because a single solution is going to be able to solve this problem, not just support services, it needs to be this integrated effort."

TV presenter Jess Davies was just 15 when photographs of her in her underwear were circulated within her local community. It was the first of several incidents Jess experienced in her teens and 20s that would later shape her women's rights campaigning.

"It took so long, too long for someone to say to me, 'you are not to blame' and 'that shouldn't have happened'," recalled Jess.

She too is dedicated to eliminating the shame of this crime from the victims to the perpetrators. "It isn't a crime to consensually send an image to someone," said Jess.

"But it is a crime to distribute that without consent and I think that should invariably be where the blame is," she concluded.