16 May 2018

Dear Parent/Guardian

Rockford Manor is taking part in a new confidential pilot service called Depublish that we are developing to
help combat cyber-bullying and reduce harmful social media. Students (and their parents or guardians) can
use the service to report content that they feel should not have been published about themselves or another
student at Rockford Manor.

It takes about 5-10 minutes to make a report on Depublish using our app or website. We then examine the
case and cross check it against laws and social media community standards to determine if it was wrongly
published. If it was wrongly published then we take steps to have the content removed as quickly as possible.

A number of Schools in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown are taking part in the pilot which is supported by the
interagency Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Children and Young People’s Services Committee (DLR CYPSC) in
recognition of the increasing challenge of online safety to young people. Key members of CYPSC are Tusla
Child and Family Agency, An Garda Siochana, the Educational Welfare Office, and the Irish Association of
Principals and Deputy Principals.

We’re working with CYPSC and social media publishers to develop the service as a robust, ethical and
evidence-based tool for schools, students and parents/guardians. We use technology combined with legal
expertise and trust relationships with social media publishers with the aim to have harmful content removed
as quickly as possible.

How does it work?

We encourage any student (or their parent/guardian) to use the service for themselves, or if they notice
another student at the school being unfairly treated/bullied on social media, on text messages or any other
online platform or site.

1. To make a report log into the Depublish app (available free of charge from the App Store for iphone
or on android from Google Store) or log into the Student/Parent (password supplied with information
letter sent home to parents)
2. The service is strictly confidential and free of charge for the trial. We never disclose the name of the
person who made the report and we don’t share or store data. Our only concern is identifying
harmful content and seeking to have it removed as quickly as possible.
3. Users answer a series of questions and follow an online decision tree that gives us the information we
need to review the case.
4. We examine the case and cross check it against laws and social media community standards.
5. We email the person who made the report a result. If we find the content was wrongly published, we
outline the steps we can take to find a resolution and process a take-down with the social media
publisher/s or if appropriate the account of the person who posted the content. We seek permission
from the person who made the complaint before we take any action to have the content removed.
6. We will be adding new features as the pilot continues and will communicate these through the app
and your school. These will include educational messages for posters and victims, a facility to store
evidence to e-discovery standards should it be required for legal action, and a number of features
aimed at reducing the possibility of re-posting images that should never have been published.

We greatly appreciate any feedback you can give us as we test and develop the service and are more than
happy to answer any questions you may have. We are doing this to make online communications safer and
your input will help us achieve that. You can contact us at hello@depublish.ie.

Yours sincerely

Breda Keena
CEO Depublish

Depublish Limited, Digital Exchange, Crane Street, Dublin 8 D08 HKR9