What is GDPR and how will it affect you?

The EU's General Data Protection Regulation comes into force this week - here's what it means

You could be forgiven for thinking that Europe's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a law created to fill your inbox with identikit warnings from every company you have ever interacted with online that "the privacy policy has changed" and pleas to "just click here so we can stay in touch".

But GDPR is far more than just an inbox-clogger. The regulation, seven years in the making, finally comes into effect on 25 May, and is set to force sweeping changes in everything from technology to advertising, and medicine to banking.