A method and system for storage and retrieval of data, such as personal data. In an embodiment of the invention, a distributed network for storage and retrieval of data comprises a plurality of data origin servers, a plurality of credential servers, and an authentication server. Each data origin server is configured to store items of data and corresponding credentials, each credential at least in part identifying an owner of the corresponding item of data. Each credential server is configured to store associations between credentials and data origin servers on which data corresponding to a respective credential is stored. The authentication server is configured to register and authenticate each user based at least in part on the user's associated credential, and to link each authenticated user to respective credential servers storing associations for the user's credential.