Under the Chatham House Rule, anyone who comes to a meeting is free to use information from the discussion, but is not allowed to reveal who made any particular comment. It is designed to increase openness of discussion. The rule is a system for holding debates and discussion panels on controversial topics, named after the London headquarters of the Chatham House, where the rule originated in June 1927.
The Bilderberg Meeting (also known as the "Bilderberg Group", "Bilderberg Conference" or "Bilderberg Club") is an annual off-the-record forum established in 1954 to foster dialogue between Europe and North America. The group's agenda, originally to prevent another world war, is now defined as bolstering a consensus around free market Western capitalism and its interests around the globe. Participants include political leaders, experts, captains of industry, finance, academia, numbering between 120 and 150.
Attendees are entitled to use information gained at meetings, but not attribute it to a named speaker—an arrangement, called the Chatham House Rule, that the club says is meant to encourage candid debate while maintaining privacy. Critics from a wide range of viewpoints have called it into question, and it has drawn conspiracy theories from both the left and right.