Trust
Confidentiality is a mechanism, not a promise.
Every peer community claims discretion. The question worth asking is what it actually does differently. Here is the whole answer on one page.
01Who sees what
The matrix
| Information | Who can see it | What we do with it |
|---|---|---|
| What is said in the room | Everyone at that table | Never recorded, never transcribed, never attributed. |
| Who was in the room | Everyone at that table | Not published, not shared with other members, not shared with anyone outside. |
| The Field Brief | All members, and the public when we publish it | Anonymised before it leaves the room. No names, no company names, no identifying detail. |
| Your application | CIO Cafe staff and your table host | Never a sponsor, never a vendor, never sold, never rented. |
| Your email address | CIO Cafe staff | Used to reply to you and to send the Field Brief. Nothing else. |
| Your identity as a member | Other members at your tables | There is no public member directory, and there will not be one. |
02Commitments
Five things that are true today
Tables are never recorded
No audio, no video, no transcript, no AI notetaker. There is nothing to leak because nothing is captured.
No sponsor sees member data
There are no sponsors. If that ever changes, it will be announced here before it happens, not after.
Every request is read by a person
No automated screening, no scoring model, no data broker enrichment on your name.
No tracking, no cookie banner
This site runs no advertising cookies, no tag manager and no session replay. See cookies.
You can leave, and be deleted
Email [email protected]. No retention call, no exit survey, no dark pattern.
The Chatham House Rule, stated exactly
When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed.
The Rule originated at Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London, in 1927. Every CIO Cafe table runs under it, and breaking it is the one thing that ends a membership immediately. That consequence is written down in the house rules, with a version number, so it can be cited rather than remembered.
What we still owe you
Being trusted means saying what is not done yet, not only what is.
- A named legal entity. Owner: add the registered entity, jurisdiction and address
- A counsel-reviewed privacy policy. The plain-language summary is accurate; the full policy is being drafted.
- An independent security review. Not commissioned yet. When it is, the result is published here whatever it says.
Reporting a problem
A confidentiality breach, a member behaving badly, or a security issue: email [email protected] or see the disclosure policy. A person replies within two business days.