🔗 Share this article From BDSM Practitioner to Tech Founder: A Unique Campaign To Combat Revenge Porn Madelaine Thomas says her first-hand ordeal of having her intimate images leaked provides her a unique insight as a technology entrepreneur. BDSM practitioner Madelaine Thomas embodies far from your standard startup entrepreneur. After repeated instances of clients leaking her intimate photographs, she felt "angry enough to take action" and turned to technology for a solution. "These were beautiful pictures, I'm unapologetic of the photographs, I'm ashamed of the way that they were used against me by an individual who I don't know," said Madelaine. Madelaine has won several awards including the Tech Safety Innovation award at a major industry conference. Little over a year after founding her company, Image Angel, which uses invisible forensic watermarking to identify perpetrators, has garnered significant recognition and was recommended as exemplary procedure in an independent pornography review recently. This represents a significant shift from her previous career in offering consensual sexual encounters, dominating clients in the realms of BDSM. A Widespread Issue Intimate image abuse, often referred to as revenge porn, is a criminal offence with perpetrators facing up to two years in prison. It is not at all an issue exclusively faced by those in the sex industry. A report indicates that around 1.42% of the women in the UK is affected by this form of abuse on an annual basis. Madelaine, thirty-seven, said survivors lived with feelings of humiliation. "I think a lot of people will comment, 'you shared a private image out on the internet, what do you expect?'," she noted. "I expect dignity, I expect respect, and I expect trust, and I don't see why those are negotiable," she added. "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 an individual committing abuse." Madelaine aims her technology will prevent would-be individuals from sharing photos non-consensually. A Unique Journey Madelaine has been working as a professional dominatrix, primarily online, for a decade and consistently found her work liberating and satisfying. "It's me as a dominant woman, a woman who is empowered and strong, offering my body as a gift to someone of my own volition," she said. "People think it's strange but I view it similarly to a personal trainer or an accountant giving advice," she remarked. She welcomes being something of an anomaly in the technology sector. "I know that it's bizarre, it's remarkable to think that an individual who was a dominatrix is now a creator of a tech company, but it took someone who has experienced it firsthand to know the flaws and the changes that were necessary," she stated. She maintained she was not technically inclined and was managed to build her company after a lot of late nights, research 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 media and online sites. When an image is viewed by a viewer, it is automatically embedded with an undetectable digital marker which is unique to them. This invisible watermark is embedded into the digital file of the image itself and can withstand screenshots, being altered and being re-captured with a secondary device. It means that if you discover your image has been circulated without your consent, as long as the service you used has the technology embedded, the sharer's information will be hidden within the image and can be extracted by a data recovery specialist so action can be taken. To date, one service has implemented her tech and she's in talks with several more. Proven Technology, New Application "The system already exists in Hollywood, it is employed in sports broadcasting so this is not an untested concept, it's just a novel use and a new system," explained Madelaine. "We have validated it, we're collaborating with a firm that has 30 years experience 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 said she hoped the technology would also act as a preventive measure to would-be perpetrators. Removing Stigma, Shifting Blame An advocate from a leading helpline said she had seen directly the panic, distress and self-blame this abuse caused for victims. "If that self-blame is reinforced 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 crucial that the response somebody is provided with is that they have committed no error," she emphasized. She noted it was fantastic that Madelaine was using her experience to create solutions, saying: "It is really important to have this multi-layered approach towards addressing technology-enabled gender-based abuse, because no one tool is going to be able to solve this problem, not just support services, it needs to be this integrated effort." Madelaine Thomas and TV presenter Jess Davies have been victims of having their intimate images shared non-consensually. TV presenter Jess Davies was just 15 when photographs of her in her underwear were shared around her local community. It was the beginning of multiple violations Jess endured in her youth that would later shape her women's rights campaigning. "It required years, too long for someone to say to me, 'it wasn't your fault' and 'that shouldn't have happened'," recalled Jess. She too is dedicated to removing the stigma of intimate image abuse 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 non-consensually and I think that should invariably be where the responsibility is," she concluded.