Touching upon the upcoming GDPR, a recent study indicates that many firms will be inundated with requests for personal information from UK consumers.

Under the new GDPR, European Union (EU) residents will have greater control over their personal data.

According to the report, 40% of organisations are already planning on taking advantage of their data privacy rights within six months of the GDPR coming into force on the 25 May 2018.

The study also revealed that consumers are most likely to target the following industries with personal data requests:

• 56% of financial services companies
• 48% of social media companies
• 46% of retailers
• 24% of former, current or potential employers
• 21% of healthcare providers

Valuing consumer rights

The survey respondents admitted their increasing need to regain control over the personal data and to put organisations to the test, in order to understand whether they value consumer rights.

Mike Palmer, Executive Vice President and Chief Product Officer at Veritas, commented: “In light of recent events surrounding the use of personal data by social media, and other, companies, consumers are taking much more of an interest in how their data is used and stored by businesses across many industry sectors.

“With a flood of personal data requests coming their way in the months ahead, businesses must retain the trust of consumers by demonstrating they have comprehensive data governance strategies in place to achieve regulatory compliance.”

Furthermore, the GDPR will impact any firm that processes, gathers or stores personal data of EU individuals.

The research found that 65% of survey respondents plan to request access to their personal data which a company holds, while 71% of respondents intend to exercise their right to be forgotten under the new regulations.

Data privacy rights

The key drivers for exercising their data privacy rights icnlude:

• Increased control over personal data: Over 56% of respondents don’t feel comfortable having personal data sit on systems that they have no control over.
• A clearer understanding of what data companies hold on them: More than 65% want to understand exactly what personal information companies hold on them.
• Data breaches increase the likelihood of receiving requests for personal data: Nearly half of respondents will exercise their rights to request personal data and/or have that data deleted if a company that holds their personal information suffers a data breach.
• Businesses are not trusted to protect personal data: More than 35% intend to exercise their data privacy rights because they do not trust companies to effectively protect their personal data.
• Consumers want to put companies to the test: Over a quarter want to test businesses to understand how much their consumer rights are valued before deciding whether to continue doing business with them.
• Consumers want to get revenge: Less than 10% will exercise their data privacy rights simply to irritate a company that they feel has mistreated them.

The study was commissioned by Veritas and conducted by 3GEM who surveyed 3,000 adults, including 1,000 in the UK.

Written from press release by Leah Alger