Forty eight per cent of Brits are planning to take advantage of incoming changes to regulations governing the way that private info can be used by businesses, according to a new survey from OnePoll.

Internet Retailing reports that this study suggests there has been a shift in attitudes towards data protection, especially in the wake of various major hacking scandals in the past couple of years.

Thirty three per cent said that they would be getting in touch with the sites they use to carry out  shopping online to request that any sensitive data relating to them is deleted in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation, which comes into force next May.

A similar proportion said that while they would allow retailers to hang onto their details, they would ask for them not to be shared with third parties, specifically to prevent being exposed to ads and promotions based on their shopping habits.

Almost a quarter said that they would check up to see exactly what information about them was being held by retailers so that they could get a better idea of the current state of play.

In spite of the apparent willingness amongst consumers to test out the extra rights they will receive in the near future, many people are still comfortable with the idea of letting e-commerce sites use their data. Forty one per cent confirmed that they would not be against handing over basic details, such as their age and gender.

Consumers over the age of 45 tend to be the most attuned to the impending introduction of the GDPR, while Millennials are not as concerned about it, perhaps due to growing up at a time when safe shopping online has become the norm and data sharing is an accepted practice.