From Dominatrix to Technology Entrepreneur: An Unconventional Campaign Against Revenge Porn

BDSM practitioner Madelaine Thomas embodies not at all your typical tech founder. After repeated instances of individuals leaking her intimate photographs, she was "angry enough to do something about it" and looked to tech solutions for a solution.

"Those were striking images, I'm unapologetic of the pictures, I'm embarrassed of the manner that they were weaponized by someone who I don't know," explained Madelaine.

Just over a year after founding her venture, Image Angel, which uses covert digital tracking to track abusers, has garnered significant recognition and was recommended as exemplary procedure in an government-commissioned study earlier this year.

This marks quite a departure from her background in offering BDSM services, dominating clients in the world of kink and bondage.

A Widespread Issue

The non-consensual sharing of private images, often referred to as image-based abuse, is a punishable crime with offenders facing up to two years in prison.

It is far from an issue exclusively faced by those in the adult entertainment sector. 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, explained survivors lived with shame and stigma. "In my view a lot of people will comment, 'you shared a private image out on the internet, what do you anticipate?'," she said.

"I expect respect, I expect consideration, and I expect confidence, and I don't see why those are up for debate," she added. "The reality that those images could be subsequently distributed where I live 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 being an abuser."

An Unconventional Path

Madelaine has been practicing as a professional dominatrix, primarily online, for 10 years and consistently found her work liberating and satisfying. "It's me as a woman in control, a woman who is empowered and strong, offering my body as a gift to someone of my own volition," she described.

"Some believe it's strange but I don't see it any differently to a personal trainer or an accountant providing a service," she added.

She welcomes being something of an anomaly in the technology sector. "I know that it's bizarre, it's crazy to think that an individual who was a dominatrix is now a founder of a technology firm, but it took someone who has experienced it firsthand to know the loopholes and the modifications that needed to happen," she explained.

She insisted she was not technically inclined and was managed to build her company after many sleepless nights, investigation and "consulting experts" who know about tech.

Understanding the Tech Solution

Image Angel can be implemented on any online platform where people exchange photos, for instance social connection apps, social media and websites.

When an image is accessed by a viewer, it is seamlessly tagged with an invisible forensic watermark which is unique to them.

This covert marker is embedded into the copy of the image itself and can withstand screen shots, being altered and being re-captured with a different camera.

It ensures that if you discover your image has been circulated non-consensually, as long as the platform you posted it on has the technology embedded, the viewer's details will be hidden within the image and can be extracted by a forensic expert so legal steps can follow.

To date, one service has implemented her tech and she's in discussions with several more.

Proven Technology, New Application

"This technology is already in use in the film industry, it is employed in sports broadcasting so this is not brand new technology, it's just a novel use 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 are confident that this is reliable and what we now need to do is deploy it widely," she added.

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

Removing Stigma, Shifting Blame

An advocate from a support service commented she had seen directly the panic, distress and self-blame this abuse inflicted on 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 guilt can really be reinforced so it's crucial that the response somebody is provided with is that they have committed no error," she stated.

She added it was fantastic that Madelaine was using her experience to bring about change, saying: "It is really important to have this comprehensive strategy towards addressing tech facilitated gender-based abuse, because a single solution is going to be able to solve this problem, not just support services, it needs to be this multi-layered response."

TV presenter Jess Davies was just 15 when photographs of her in her underwear were circulated within her local community. It was the first of several incidents Jess experienced in her teens and 20s that would later inform her advocacy work.

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

She too is dedicated to removing the stigma of intimate image abuse from the survivors to the offenders. "There is no offence to consensually send an photo to someone," stated Jess.

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