Patent ID: 8769621

Claim:
A method for providing permission-based access to personal information over a communication network, the method comprising: entering specified owner personal information in an owner terminal, by an owner, to establish a secure owner profile; storing the secure owner profile in a secure owner database; entering specified user personal information in a user terminal, by a user, to establish a secure user profile; storing the secure user profile in a secure user database, which is separate from the secure owner database; entering a user request in the user terminal requesting permission to use a designated piece of the owner personal information from the secure owner profile stored in the secure owner database; accessing a source of truth, which maps an identification of the requested designated piece of owner personal information with a system ID and a profile ID of the owner, by a server in order to obtain the system ID and the profile ID of the owner; determining, by the server, whether the user has been designated as a trusted user by the owner, wherein the server automatically determines whether to approve the user request based on the secure owner profile when the user request is determined to be from a trusted user, and wherein the server sends an alert notification to the owner and awaits an owner response providing an owner approval determination when the user request is determined to be from a non-trusted user; providing permission to use the designated piece of the owner personal information to the user over the communication network after the user request is approved; and using the received system ID and the profile ID of the owner from the server, the user accesses the designated piece of the owner personal information that is stored in the secure owner profile in the secure owner database.