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BDSM practitioner Madelaine Thomas represents not at all your average startup entrepreneur. Following multiple instances of individuals leaking her intimate photographs, she felt "sufficiently outraged to do something about it" and looked to technology for a solution.

"Those were striking images, I'm unapologetic of the pictures, I'm ashamed of the way that they were used against me by someone who I have never met," said Madelaine.

Just over a year since founding her company, Image Angel, which employs covert digital tracking to identify abusers, has garnered significant recognition and was cited as exemplary procedure in an government-commissioned study earlier this year.

This represents a significant shift from her previous career in offering 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 criminal offence with offenders risking two years in prison.

It is far from an issue uniquely experienced by those in the sex industry. A report indicates that around 1.42% of the UK female population is impacted by this form of abuse each year.

Madelaine, thirty-seven, explained victims endured shame and stigma. "In my view a lot of people will comment, 'you put a private image out on the internet, what do you expect?'," she noted.

"I demand respect, I expect respect, and I expect trust, 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 employed to cause them pain, that's beyond, that's not a decision I made, that's not an error on my part, that's someone being an abuser."

An Unconventional Path

Madelaine has been practicing as a dominatrix, mainly online, for a decade and always found her work liberating and satisfying. "I am as a dominant woman, a woman who is empowered and strong, giving my body as a treat to someone of my own volition," she described.

"People think it's unusual but I don't see it any differently to a nutritionist or an financial advisor providing a service," she added.

She embraces being something of an anomaly in the world of tech. "I know that it's unconventional, it's remarkable to think that an individual who was a dominatrix is now a creator of a tech company, but it required someone who has been through it to know the flaws and the modifications that were necessary," she stated.

She insisted she was not in the least bit techy and was able to build her company after a lot of late nights, investigation and "consulting experts" who know about tech.

How Does the Technology Work?

Image Angel can be used by any online platform where people exchange photos, for instance social connection apps, social networks and online sites.

When an image is accessed by a user, it is seamlessly tagged with an undetectable digital marker which is unique to them.

This covert marker is encoded within the digital file of the image itself and can withstand screen shots, being edited and being re-captured with a secondary device.

It means that if you discover your image has been shared without your consent, providing the service you used has the system integrated, the sharer's information will be hidden within the image and can be retrieved by a forensic expert so legal steps can follow.

Currently, one service has implemented her tech and she's in discussions with many others.

Proven Technology, New Application

"This technology already exists in the film industry, it is employed in sports broadcasting 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 collaborating with a company that has decades of expertise in developing technology so we know that this is solid and what we now need to do is test it at scale," she continued.

She said she believed the technology would also act as a preventive measure to would-be perpetrators.

Changing the Narrative

An expert from a leading helpline commented she had seen directly the panic, distress and self-blame intimate image abuse inflicted on 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 self blame can really be deepened so it's really important that the support a victim receives is that they have committed no error," she emphasized.

She noted it was fantastic that Madelaine was leveraging her ordeal to create solutions, saying: "It is vital to have this multi-layered approach towards tackling technology-enabled gender-based abuse, because a single solution is going to be able to tackle this alone, not just support services, it needs to be this multi-layered response."

TV presenter Jess Davies was only fifteen 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 shape her advocacy work.

"It took so long, an excessive amount of time for someone to tell me, 'it wasn't your fault' and 'that shouldn't have happened'," recalled Jess.

She too is dedicated to eliminating the shame of this crime from the survivors to the perpetrators. "There is no offence to willingly share an photo to someone," said Jess.

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