Secure data interchange

Abstract

A secure data interchange system enables information about bilateral and multilateral interactions between multiple persistent parties to be exchanged and leveraged within an environment that uses a combination of techniques to control access to information, release of information, and matching of information back to parties. Access to data records can be controlled using an associated price rule. A data owner can specify a price for different types and amounts of information access.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of providing access to user profile information, the method comprising:
 storing in memory a profile for a user, the profile comprising personal information regarding the user;   establishing a policy for access to the user's personal information, the policy comprising an access rule that provides users with different levels of access to the user's personal information for different users, wherein the access rule is controlled by the owner of the personal information;   providing online access to the user's personal information by the users in accordance with the policy;   establishing a price rule for access to one or more user profiles by one or more agents; and   providing access to information in the one or more user profiles based on the price rule.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 matching the users based on their profiles.