The private club Dialog, cofounded by billionaire investor Peter Thiel and data broker Auren Hoffman, has been secretly grading its event attendees on an internal scale that ranks individuals by wealth and fame, tracking their social connections and using algorithmic tools to determine who gains access to its elite retreats. Internal records obtained by WIRED reveal that the organization maintains detailed dossiers on nearly 200 prominent individuals scheduled to attend its annual gathering this summer, containing home addresses, private phone numbers, email accounts, dates of birth, photographs, emergency contacts, dietary restrictions, and in some cases the political leanings volunteered by members. The cache of data represents a significant privacy exposure for some of the most influential figures in politics, technology, finance, and media, and provides an unprecedented look inside a secretive network that has operated below the public radar for nearly two decades.
Dialog’s Secret Grading System for Wealth and Influence
Dialog was founded in 2006 as an invitation-only community that convenes politicians, investors, entrepreneurs, military leaders, executives, academics, and journalists for off-the-record retreats and private dinners. According to internal documents, the organization has more than 1,000 paying members, and over 2,500 people have attended its annual meetings. The records obtained by WIRED show that every individual — whether a full member or a prospective invitee — is assigned a grade of A, B, or C. The C grade is reserved for those deemed most famous and influential, with only about one in seven individuals receiving this designation. The majority of the 192 dossiers reviewed — 141 individuals — were assigned a B, while the A grade appears primarily reserved for older, established members considered less notable by the organization’s graders.
The grading system extends beyond a simple label. Internal notes reveal that Dialog’s staff used an artificial intelligence tool to assemble dossiers on at least 26 individuals, generating assessments of each person’s prominence and desirability as a member. Actor Josh Brolin, who has never attended a Dialog retreat, was categorized as a VIP based heavily on the strength of his public fame. Staff notes cited his portrayal of Thanos in the Avengers series and his Instagram following of over 3.4 million as key factors in his classification. In contrast, economist Tyler Cowen was initially denied a VIP C rating after the AI tool described him as widely recognized within his field but not a leader of an organization that is a household name to the average person — a decision that staff later overrode manually.
What the Leaked Data Reveals About Membership Tracking
The exposed records are distinct from a separate, publicly accessible directory that had been circulating online, which included a broader set of names, some of whom were not actual members. The internal data obtained by WIRED is far more detailed. For each of the nearly 200 individuals scheduled to attend the upcoming retreat outside Dublin, Ireland, the files contain personal contact information, emergency contacts, and volunteered political leanings. Dialog’s August gathering is set to include discussions on artificial intelligence, geopolitics, and modern warfare, featuring current and former lawmakers, diplomats, and national security officials.
The organization describes itself as having two distinct products: membership, which grants access to private dinners, global treks, concierge services, and a private group chat, and retreats, which convene groups of 200 or more individuals — not necessarily members — for multi-day meetings. The internal grading system and algorithmic profiling raise serious questions about the data privacy practices of a network that trades heavily on exclusivity and discretion. For individuals who provided personal information under the assumption of confidentiality, the existence of an internal ranking system and the exposure of that data represents a breach of trust that carries real-world security implications.
What Affected Individuals Should Do Now
Anyone whose personal information may have been shared with Dialog or similar invitation-only networks should take immediate steps to protect their digital privacy. The exposure of home addresses, phone numbers, and email accounts increases the risk of targeted phishing attacks, social engineering, and doxxing. Affected individuals should change passwords on all accounts associated with the email addresses included in the dossiers, enable multi-factor authentication on every service that supports it, and monitor financial accounts and credit reports for signs of identity theft. For those concerned about location privacy, using a reputable no-log VPN service with AES-256 encryption and a kill switch can help obscure IP addresses and browsing activity from potential surveillance. The broader lesson for anyone invited into exclusive private networks is to treat any organization that collects personal data with the same scrutiny applied to public-facing platforms — because internal security practices are only as strong as the weakest link in the chain.
