A personal data service (PDS) gives the user a central point of control for their personal information (e.g. interests, contact information, affiliations, preferences, friends).
The user's data attributes being managed by the service may be stored in a co-located repository, or they may be stored in multiple external distributed repositories, or a combination of both.
A data ecosystem is developing where such sharing among projects or "operators" may become practicable.
[1] The concept of a PDS can be differentiated from another closely related term, personal data store.
Again, the term itself does not imply where such a store lives on the network (i.e., in the cloud, on a local device, in a smart card, on a SIM, etc.)".