🔗 Share this article Transitioning from Dominatrix to Technology Entrepreneur: A Unique Campaign To Combat Revenge Porn Madelaine Thomas states her first-hand ordeal of having her intimate images leaked provides her a unique insight as a tech founder. Professional dominatrix Madelaine Thomas is not at all your average tech founder. After multiple instances of clients distributing her private explicit images, she felt "angry enough to take action" and looked to technology for a solution. "These were striking images, I'm not ashamed of the photographs, I'm ashamed of the way that they were weaponized by an individual who I don't know," explained Madelaine. Madelaine has received several awards including the Tech Safety Innovation award at a major safety summit. Little over a year since launching her venture, Image Angel, which uses invisible forensic watermarking to track perpetrators, has garnered significant recognition and was cited as best practice in an independent pornography review recently. This marks quite a departure from her previous career in offering consensual sexual encounters, working with clients in the realms of kink and bondage. The Pervasive Problem The non-consensual sharing of private images, commonly known as revenge porn, is a punishable crime with offenders risking two years in prison. It is not at all an issue exclusively faced by those in the adult entertainment sector. A study indicates that around 1.42% of the UK female population is impacted by this form of abuse each year. Madelaine, thirty-seven, said victims lived with shame and stigma. "I think a lot of people will comment, 'you put a saucy picture out on the internet, what do you expect?'," she said. "I demand respect, I expect respect, and I expect trust, and I don't see why those are up for debate," she added. "The fact that those images could be subsequently distributed in my community or with people I love and used to hurt them, that's beyond, that's not a decision I made, that's not my mistake, that's someone committing abuse." Madelaine hopes her tech will deter potential intimate image abusers without consent. A Unique Journey Madelaine has been working as a dominatrix, mainly online, for 10 years and consistently 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 because I wish to," she said. "People think it's strange but I view it similarly to a personal trainer or an financial advisor providing a service," she added. She embraces being a unique figure 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 required someone who has experienced it firsthand to know the flaws and the changes that needed to happen," she explained. She maintained she was not in the least bit techy 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 implemented on any digital service where people share images, for instance social connection apps, social networks and online sites. When an image is accessed by a viewer, it is automatically embedded with an invisible forensic watermark which is specific to that viewer. This invisible watermark is encoded within the copy of the image itself and can withstand screenshots, being altered and being re-captured with a different camera. It means that if you discover your image has been circulated without your consent, as long as the platform you used has the system integrated, the sharer's information will be encoded in the image and can be extracted by a data recovery specialist so action can be taken. To date, one platform has adopted her tech and she's in discussions with many others. An Established Method for a New Purpose "The system already exists in Hollywood, it already exists in sports broadcasting so this is not an untested concept, it's just a new application and a new system," said Madelaine. "We have validated it, we're partnering with a company that has decades of expertise in tech development so we are confident that this is reliable and what we now need to do is test it at scale," she continued. She expressed hope she believed the technology would also act as a deterrent to potential perpetrators. Changing the Narrative An advocate from a support service said she had seen directly the panic, distress and self-blame this abuse inflicted on victims. "When that guilt is reinforced by a misinformed friend or professional who says 'what did you expect?' that guilt can really be deepened so it's crucial that the support a victim receives is that they have not done anything wrong," she stated. She added it was inspiring that Madelaine was using her experience to create solutions, adding: "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 tackle this alone, no one helpline, it needs to be this multi-layered response." Madelaine Thomas and TV presenter Jess Davies have experienced experiencing their intimate images distributed non-consensually. TV presenter Jess Davies was just 15 when images of her in a state of undress were shared around her local community. It was the beginning of multiple violations Jess experienced in her teens and 20s that would later shape her women's rights campaigning. "It required years, too long for someone to say to me, 'you are not to blame' and 'that shouldn't have happened'," said Jess. She too is passionate about eliminating the shame of intimate image abuse from the survivors to the offenders. "It isn't a crime to consensually send 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 concluded.