Confidentiality Policy

By default, the Chatham House rule applies. That is, you can repeat information you received at the summit, but you can’t share the name or affiliation of who said it or even just the name or affiliation of who was at the summit. This includes not sharing anything that is suggestive of who said it.

There are two important exceptions:

Don't say anything from the summit in public (e.g., to a large audience or online), even without names, unless you have permission.
In small private conversations after the summit, you don’t have to follow the Chatham House rule so long as you’re highly confident that the person you’re quoting would be happy with you doing this. If in doubt, don’t share without getting permission first.

Remember to use your common sense before sharing anything sensitive at the summit: although everyone will have agreed to this policy, consider whether that’s enough assurance to share.

You can request different levels of confidentiality. If you ever prefer a greater or lesser level of confidentiality than what’s written above, please clearly communicate this to the people you are talking to.

Reasoning behind the policy

We’ve tried to strike the right balance between the policy being:

Restrictive enough that you can talk relatively freely at the summit
Loose enough that you can share useful information with others after the summit

Please let us know at summit@existential-security.com if you have any suggestions for how the policy could be improved or if you think we’ve got anything wrong.

FAQs

Can I mention that I'm attending/attended the summit?

You’re welcome to mention that you will be attending/attended the summit and provide non-specific details about it. We ask that you do not share the exact location of the event.

Can I share information about others who are attending/attended the summit?

We ask you not to reveal the names or affiliations of other attendees unless you have explicit permission to do so.

Can I share documents from the summit with non-attendees?

All memos and related documents will be made available to all attendees unless explicitly requested otherwise by the owner of the document. Do not share documents with non-attendees unless you have the owner’s and all commenters' permissions. Please then make a copy, including comments of the memo or document, and share that. If you have only the owner’s permission, make a separate copy without comments and share that.

Even if you are the owner of the document, please make a separate copy for the summit and for sharing with people not attending the summit, to avoid accidentally sharing the attendance list with others.

We recommend writing in red at the top of your memo who copies of the document can and can’t be shared with. (For example: This document is shared with everyone attending the Summit on Existential Security. Please don’t share a copy without asking me first.)

What if an attendee makes a confidentiality request I don’t expect to be able to honor?

If, during the event, an attendee makes a confidentiality request you expect to be unable to honor, we ask that you walk away from the conversation or session.

What do you mean by “not sharing anything that is suggestive of who said it”?

Most opinions or facts could have been shared by anyone, so they are fine to share under the Chatham House rule.

However, if only person A, person B, or person C could have said X, then sharing that “someone said X” is equivalent to saying “one of person A, person B, and person C said X”, which is sharing a lot of information about who said it. So it’s not allowed under the Chatham House rule.

What should I do if I’m not clear about something in this policy?

If it’s an edge case, consider how confident you are that the person would be enthusiastic about you sharing the information. If you’re highly confident they would be enthusiastic, err on the side of sharing. Otherwise, err on the side of seeking permission or not sharing. You can also contact us.

Or, if the wording of this policy is unclear, please contact us at summit@existential-security.com.