Professional dominatrix Madelaine Thomas embodies not at all your standard startup entrepreneur. Following multiple occurrences of individuals distributing her intimate photographs, she felt "angry enough to do something about it" and looked to tech solutions for answers.
"Those were striking images, I'm not ashamed of the pictures, I'm embarrassed of the manner that they were weaponized by an individual who I have never met," explained Madelaine.
Just over a year since launching her company, Image Angel, which uses invisible forensic watermarking to identify abusers, has garnered significant recognition and was cited 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 world of BDSM.
The Pervasive Problem
The non-consensual sharing of private images, commonly known as image-based abuse, is a punishable crime with perpetrators risking two years in prison.
It is far from an issue uniquely experienced by those in the sex industry. A report suggests that approximately 1.42% of the women in the UK is affected by intimate image abuse on an annual basis.
Madelaine, 37, said victims lived with shame and stigma. "In my view a lot of people will comment, 'you put a saucy picture out on the internet, what do you expect?'," she noted.
"I expect dignity, I expect consideration, and I expect confidence, and I fail to understand why those are negotiable," she continued. "The reality that those images could be then shared where I live or with my loved ones and employed to cause them pain, that's unacceptable, that's not a decision I made, that's not my mistake, that's someone committing abuse."
An Unconventional Path
Madelaine has been practicing as a professional dominatrix, primarily online, for a decade and always found her work liberating and satisfying. "It's me as a woman in control, a woman who is confident and powerful, offering my body as a treat to someone of my own volition," she said.
"Some believe it's strange but I view it similarly to a nutritionist or an accountant providing a service," she remarked.
She welcomes being a unique figure in the world of tech. "I know that it's bizarre, it's crazy to think that someone who was a dominatrix is now a creator of a technology firm, but it took someone who has been through it to understand the flaws and the changes that were necessary," she stated.
She maintained she was not in the least bit techy and was able to build her company after many late nights, research and "bugging people" who know about 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 websites.
When an image is viewed by a viewer, it is automatically embedded with an invisible forensic watermark which is unique to them.
This invisible watermark is encoded within the digital file of the image itself and can withstand screen shots, being edited and being photographed with a different camera.
It ensures that if you discover your image has been circulated non-consensually, as long as the service you used has the technology embedded, the sharer's information will be encoded in the image and can be retrieved by a data recovery specialist so legal steps can follow.
To date, one platform has implemented her tech and she's in talks with many others.
An Established Method for a New Purpose
"The system is already in use in Hollywood, it already exists in sports broadcasting so this is not brand new technology, it's just a new application and a different framework," said Madelaine.
"We have validated 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 deploy it widely," she continued.
She said she hoped the technology would also act as a deterrent to potential perpetrators.
Removing Stigma, Shifting Blame
An expert from a support service said she had seen first-hand the trauma and guilt this abuse inflicted on victims.
"When that guilt is reinforced by a misinformed friend or professional who says 'well, why did you take those images in the first place?' that guilt can really be reinforced so it's crucial that the response a victim receives is that they have committed no error," she stated.
She added it was inspiring that Madelaine was using her experience to create solutions, saying: "It is really important to have this multi-layered approach towards tackling technology-enabled gender-based abuse, because a single solution is going to be able to solve this problem, no one helpline, it needs to be this multi-layered response."
TV presenter Jess Davies was only fifteen when photographs of her in her underwear were circulated within her town. 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 say to me, 'you are not to blame' 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. "There is no offence to willingly share an image to someone," stated Jess.
"However, it is illegal to circulate that non-consensually and I think that should always be where the blame is," she concluded.
