2017 Volume 60 Issue 4 Pages 251-260
Multiple service providers must share each service recipient's personal data and thereby collaborate with each other in order to optimize the total value of the services. This data sharing has so far been implemented by centralized methods intervened by middlemen other than the data providers and the data users, but decentralized methods without such middlemen are much safer, lower-cost, and more scalable. PLR (personal life repository) is particularly inexpensive and scalable among them. Its applications and potentials are discussed and relevant world-wide trends are outlined.