🔗 Share this article Transitioning from Dominatrix to Tech Founder: An Unconventional Fight Against Revenge Porn Madelaine Thomas says her first-hand ordeal of experiencing her private photos shared without consent provides her a distinct perspective as a technology entrepreneur. BDSM practitioner Madelaine Thomas embodies far from your typical tech founder. After repeated occurrences of individuals distributing her intimate photographs, she was "sufficiently outraged to do something about it" and turned to technology for answers. "Those were striking images, I'm not ashamed of the pictures, I'm ashamed of the manner that they were weaponized by an individual who I don't know," stated Madelaine. Madelaine has won several awards including the Tech Safety Innovation award at a major industry conference. Just over a year after launching her venture, Image Angel, which uses covert digital tracking to track perpetrators, has won several awards and was cited as exemplary procedure in an government-commissioned study earlier this year. This represents quite a departure from her previous career in providing BDSM services, dominating clients in the realms of BDSM. The Pervasive Problem The non-consensual sharing of private images, often referred to as revenge porn, is a punishable crime with perpetrators facing up to two years in prison. It is far from 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 on an annual basis. Madelaine, thirty-seven, said victims lived with feelings of humiliation. "In my view a lot of people will comment, 'you put a saucy picture out on the internet, what do you anticipate?'," she said. "I expect dignity, I expect consideration, and I expect trust, and I fail to understand why those are negotiable," she added. "The fact that those images could be then shared where I live or with my loved ones and used to hurt them, that's unacceptable, that's not a decision I made, that's not an error on my part, that's someone being an abuser." Madelaine aims her tech will prevent 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 empowering and fulfilling. "It's me as a dominant woman, a woman who is confident and powerful, giving my body as a gift to someone because I wish to," she described. "Some believe it's unusual but I don't see it any differently to a nutritionist or an accountant giving advice," she remarked. She welcomes being a unique figure in the technology sector. "I know that it's bizarre, it's crazy to think that someone who was a dominatrix is now a founder of a tech company, but it took someone who has experienced it firsthand to know the flaws and the modifications that were necessary," she stated. She maintained she was not technically inclined and was able to build her company after a lot of sleepless nights, research and "consulting experts" who know about tech. How Does the Technology Work? Image Angel can be implemented on any online platform where people exchange photos, for instance dating 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 edited and being re-captured with a different camera. It means that if you discover your image has been circulated non-consensually, as long as the service you used has the technology embedded, the viewer's details will be encoded in the image and can be extracted by a forensic expert so legal steps can follow. Currently, one platform has implemented her tech and she's in talks with many others. 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 collaborating with a company that has decades of expertise in tech development so we know that this is reliable and what we now need to do is test it at scale," she added. She expressed hope she believed the technology would also act as a deterrent to potential intimate image abusers. Changing the Narrative An advocate from a leading helpline said she had seen first-hand the trauma and guilt this abuse caused for victims. "If that self-blame is reinforced by a uninformed acquaintance or professional 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 added it was inspiring that Madelaine was using her experience to bring about change, adding: "It is vital to have this multi-layered approach towards addressing technology-enabled abuse, because no one tool is going to be able to solve this problem, no one helpline, it needs to be this multi-layered response." Both women have been victims of experiencing their private photos shared non-consensually. TV presenter Jess Davies was only fifteen when images of her in her underwear were shared around her local community. It was the beginning of multiple violations Jess experienced in her youth that would later inform her women's rights campaigning. "It took so long, an excessive amount of time for someone to tell me, 'it wasn't your fault' and 'that was wrong'," said Jess. She too is dedicated to eliminating the shame of this crime from the survivors to the perpetrators. "It isn't a crime to willingly share an photo to someone," stated Jess. "But it is a crime to circulate that without consent and I think that should always be where the blame is," she affirmed.