GDPR, Privacy Policy, Cookies And Other Stuff at Bionic Basil HQ

Hey guys, mew've probably been reading and seeing a lot of news about GDPR aka General Data Protection Regulation, that's currently coming into effect as of the 25th of May 2018.

Now mew're probably wundering what's that got to do with a bunch of heathen cats aka me and The B Team, well as we're still part of the EU, we have to comply by law as to how we look aftur your data and privacy, and as we have visitors from all offur the wurld like many of mew, our blogging pals, we have to make sure that effurything is tickety-boo so we're not breaking any laws within the EU.

Also, there's the issue about Data Protection too, so here's our Policies and Notices which we'll also add a link to our Contact Us Page at the bottom. 

Please note that the web domains: www.bionicbasil.co.uk ~ www.bionicbasil.com ~ www.britishmoggies.co.uk ~ www.britishmoggies.com all point to the main blogger domain of https://bionicbasil.blogspot.com which brought mew here today, and are therefore covered by the following terms and conditions too. 

Reading This Page In Other Languages

If you require to read this page in another language, please use the Google translator in the left-hand sidebar, or copy and paste this text into a translator of your choice.

Please be advised we are not responsible for any translations that are not completely accurate to the original context of this page.

Privacy Policy & Data Protection @ BionicBasil HQ

We never have shared, or will share, or sell personal information with third parties, nor do we store information we collect about your visit to this blog for use other than to analyse content performance through the use of cookies, which you can turn off at any time by modifying your Internet browser's settings. We are not responsible for the republishing of the content found on this blog on other Web sites or media without our permission. This privacy policy is subject to change without notice.

Privacy & Data Policy

This policy sets out how www.bionicbasil.com/www.bionicbasil.blogspot.com uses and protects any information that you give BionicBasil when you use this website.

BionicBasil is committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected. Should we ask you to provide certain information by which you can be identified when using this website, then you can be assured that it will only be used in accordance with this privacy statement.

BionicBasil may change this policy [to comply with changes in the law] from time to time by updating this page. We will endeavour to notify readers of such changes as and when, or if they occur. You as readers should check this page from time to time to ensure that you are happy with the policies, notices and any changes that may have taken place. 
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What we may collect

We may collect the following information occasionally:

Contact information i.e. Blog address (NOT IP addresses, or any user-identifiable stuff), your email address if left within a comment given on the blog so we can supply extra information. If mew supplied your email address to us on a purrsonal basis, all information will be kept on a strictly private and purrsonal basis. 

FYI: We do not actively seek/solicit email addresses or any other data from anyone that visits the blog.

What we do with the information we gather

We require this information to understand your needs and provide you with a better service, and in particular for the following reasons:

• To respond to comments left on this blog.
•  Remove Spam and spammers that would otherwise ruin the epicness of the comments.
•  Help us understand the needs of our readers by understanding the geographical country of origin, also to identify the origin of spam.

Security

We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorized access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.

All computers plus other devices have built-in protection and are password and/or fingerprint (and pawprint) protected. No Passwords are shared, and access to the site and such data as we have (if any) is restricted to the owner of this blog only. 



How we use cookies*

A cookie is a small file which asks permission to be placed on your computer's hard drive. Once you agree, the file is added and the cookie helps analyze web traffic or lets you know when you visit a particular site. Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences.

We [this blog] use traffic log cookies [via Google] to identify which pages are being used. This helps us analyze data about web page traffic, to prevent people spamming the blog, and improve our website in order to tailor it to customer needs. We only use this information for statistical analysis purposes.

Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better website, by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie does NOT give us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us.

You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting it to decline cookies if you prefer. This may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website.

Cookies at BBHQ

The cookie banner upon arrival at BBHQ ~ this displays the Google options to accept - OK or Learn More.

*BionicBasil does not purrsonally collect cookies [well unless they're catnip cookies! MOL]. Cookies on BionicBasil at blogger are generated through Google, so if mew wish to accept the cookie pop-up when arriving at our blog click OK, or for more info click the Learn More button. If mew don't want to accept the cookies please close the browser. 

Purrlease visit Google directly to check out their cookie and other policies.

BionicBasil is a purrsonal blog using Google's free blogging platform - blogspot.

At present January 2024, we haven't found any further info regarding Google's Blogger cookie banner displaying a Reject button. We will continue to check periodically to see if this changes over the coming months and update mew as and when.

Therefore, we will say again, if mew do not want to accept the cookies on arrival, please close the webpage, otherwise if mew continue to use this blog we will go with the premise that mew are happy with things the way they are.

Record Keeping of Personal Information/Consent

As we do not personally store users consent at BBHQ, please visit Google to read:

Why Google Collects Data

Information That Google Collects

Keeping Your Information Secure

Sharing your Information

Exporting and Deleting Your Information

Retaining Information

NOTICE OF COLLECTION ~ Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information

We do not collect information other than the odd email address for the sole purpose of what is set out below in: Controlling your Personal Information.

We do not sell any personal information, nor have we ever since the creation of this blog 2012, therefore there is no link to opt out.

Links to other websites

Our website/blog may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this privacy statement. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.



Controlling your personal information

You may choose to restrict the collection or use of your personal information in the following ways:       

If at some point you are asked to fill in a form on the website, look for the box that you can click to indicate that you do not want the information to be used by anybody for direct marketing purposes   

•   If you have previously agreed to us using your personal information (email address, and or postal address) say for receipt of personal emails, or maybe mailing a gift and/or Christmas card or present, you may change your mind at any time by writing to us, or emailing us at deardrbasil @ gmail . com and we will delete the information and no Christmas cards or presents, or gifts will be forthcoming.

We do not sell, distribute or lease your personal information to third parties unless we are required by law to do so, i.e. in the pursuance of criminal prosecutions by third parties such as the Police, National Security etc, then the operation of the law of the land will apply. 

You may request details of personal information which we may hold about you, if any, under the new GDPR ruling effective 25^th May 2018. A small fee will be payable. Please email us at deardrbasil @ gmail . com

Usage of 3^rd Party Service Providers

We have also checked with Google and our 3rd party plug-ins to make sure that they're compliant with the new GDPR rulings :

Follow.it Follow Tool & Bloglovin, see right-hand side sidebar:

 Bloglovin  Feedburner RSS & Email Subscription  Follow.it RSS & Email Subscription

Direct Links to The Above Companies Privacy Policies

BlogLovin   Feedburner   Follow.it

If mew follow us by any of the third-party plugins mentioned above, mew can go directly to their websites and opt-out easily enough should mew want to, as we can't unfollow any of those for mew.

If mew're happy to continue to follow us by whateffur means mew do, then mew basically have to do nothing; life goes on and nothing changes. 

Follow.it email subscription service was added 29th June 2021 as the Google Feedburner finished service on 1st July 2021.

Google AdSense was added in July 2021

3rd party vendors inclusive of Google use cookies to serve ads on our site based on a user's prior visit to either here or other websites.

Google's use of ad cookies allows it, and its partners to serve ads to BBHQ visitors based on their visits to our site and/or others on the internet.

Users may opt-out of personalised ads by clicking here: OPT OUT

Please Note: **UPDATE** Google AdSense is not currently active on our blog.

Paypal

We do not have PayPal on our blog.

AddThis Social Media Bar

If mew use a pop-up blocker mew won't see the AddThis social media share bar, which floats on the left-hand side of our sidebar. **UPDATE** AddThis was removed in 2023.

External links to our social media accounts

To see the cookie and website policies for each of our social media accounts, please click the links below.

Instagram

Twitter

Facebook

Tumblr

TikTok

YouTube

BlueSky

We do not have any third-party social widgets active at BBHQ. There are built-in share buttons at the bottom of each post, which are available within the Blogger template, so please see Google's Privacy & Terms page by clicking here.

Updated 24-01-24 Privacy Policy for Instagram

Google Analytics – 3rd Party App

BionicBasil does not use Google Analytics.

Google reCAPTCHA

BionicBasil HAS NOT actively turned on or physically integrated the Google reCAPTCHA service at BBHQ, and has no control over whether the Google reCAPTCHA spam protection service is randomly activated on this blog by the Google Overlords. 

Visit the v3

 

reCAPTCHA Official Website

About

It is a tool which may help to prevent spam or abuse, potentially stopping automated software carrying out abusive activities. To learn fully about what reCAPTCHA is and does, click this link to visit Google for the full description of how it works and other information, including info about cookies.

However, if mew're trying to comment and the Google reCAPTCHA service is automatically activated -not by us- and pops up, it is entirely up to mew if mew decide to check the box to continue to visit or post your comment or not.

Please check out Google's Privacy & Terms page by clicking here.

MailChimp or Similar

We do not use MailChimp or similar, nor do we send out any marketing emails.

*We may in the future offer a weekly newsletter, but we will announce it on the main blog if we decide to go ahead with it.

Contact Form

We do not have an email contact form or any other type of contact form at BBHQ.

Direct Registration

We do not have any form of direct registration available at BBHQ.

Newsletter or Mailing List

We do not send out any newsletters or have any mailing lists at BBHQ.(*See MailChimp or Similar above).

Terms and Conditions of using BionicBasil.com

The content provided on this purrsonal, non-monetised blog is purely for informational and entertainment purposes only for the cat-loving community. The owner of this blog makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site or found by following any link on this site. The owner will not be liable for any errors or omissions in this information nor for the availability of this information. The owner will not be liable for any losses, injuries, or damages from the display or use of this information. These terms and conditions of use are subject to change at any time and without notice.

The stories and characters depicted in this blog, and its stories are protected by Copyright ©. 

Any unauthorised exhibition, distribution, content scraping or copying of this blog, or any part thereof (including characters) may result in civil liability and criminal prosecution.

Regarding the adventure stories which we write to share on the blog, all names [apart from The B Team Cats], characters, and incidents portrayed in these productions/stories are completely fictitious. No identification with actual persons (living or deceased), places, buildings, and products is intended or should be inferred.

BionicBasil® is a REGISTERED Trademark.

All images of Basil and The B Team and their adventures, plus B Team content, are copyright-protected and owned by this blog and the author, Cathrine Garnell. 

Please note that you MAY NOT use, copy, content scrape, or take our blog posts or any material, photos, images, graphics, text or anything at all on our website without explicit written permission. Unless we say so on a particular post, i.e., Colouring with Cats & Brain Training with Cats, which have downloadable items: mandalas or puzzles, which we allow you to download and use for non-commercial purposes only - these items are clearly marked.  

See updated notice below... TAKE NOTE - NO A.I. content scraping, rewriting or generating derivative works, etc...

>^.^<

Copyright Notice Addition 2026

© [2026] Cathrine Garnell. BionicBasil® is a Registered Trademark.

All images, characters (including The B Team), adventures, and lore are the exclusive intellectual property of Cathrine Garnell.

UNAUTHORISED USE PROHIBITED: You may NOT copy, content-scrape, or republish any material—including photos, graphics, or text—without explicit written permission. This includes the use of AI for scraping, rewriting, or generating derivative works.

EXCEPTIONS: Downloadable content (e.g., Colouring with Cats or Brain Training with Cats) is permitted for non-commercial, personal use only as explicitly marked.

Theft of intellectual property is subject to legal action.

>^.^<

Other Images and Occasional Content

We do pay to use certain images in some of our posts and always put the relevant licence attribution where applicable for said images at the end of the posts they are used in. All Glitter Text and Glitter Graphics are clickable pics back to the original source, and relevant attributions are placed at the bottom of the posts they are used in.

Some of our graphics and photo edits were and are created with a paid Pizap Licence and paid Canva Licence, paid IOS Prisma App and paid Befunky licence. Plus a paid AI Art iOS app.

Mewsic used in some of our videos is used under a paid licence from www.audiojungle.net and www.soundstripe.com, and this is clearly stated either at the bottom of said posts where BBHQ videos are displayed and/or in the credits on the actual video.

We have used iMovie to create the bulk of our videos. We also use the paid version of the InShot IOS app to create a few of our videos, graphics used within the videos are available within the app to use, and we make no attempt to assume ownership or title of said graphics, which may occasionally appear. 

Other YouTube videos, very occasionally used, are clearly not the property of BionicBasil, and we make no attempt to assume ownership or title of said videos.

Other images and occasional content, i.e., guest posts ~ have been used with permission granted by the owners/guest authors with source attribution. If, for any reason, a photo has been inadvertently used without attribution, please contact us immediately with the relevant details for us to add to the blog.

>^.^<

AI‑Assisted Content Notice @ BionicBasil HQ

Some graphics and images shared on this blog may be created, enhanced or edited using licensed digital tools that include AI-assisted features.

This is concept art ~ AI-assisted visualisation of pre-existing original IP.

These tools help BBHQ bring the Basilverse to life by allowing us to visually realise characters, places, and ideas created a very long time ago; today's digital tools make it possible to illustrate and share them in this way.

This disclosure is provided for transparency only.

We do not publish details of specific tools, software or creative workflows. Our production methods form part of our creative process and are not disclosed, particularly in light of previous unauthorised copying of our content.

AI-assisted content is used solely for the creation, enhancement and editing of graphics and images for entertainment, visual storytelling and creative illustration within the Basilverse. 

BionicBasil® written content is independently authored by Cathrine Garnell.

All original BionicBasil® writing, characters, stories, branding, creative concepts and finished creative works remain the intellectual property of Cathrine Garnell, with all applicable rights reserved.

Updated 2026

Website disclaimer

The information contained on this website is for general information purposes only. The information is provided by BionicBasil, and while we endeavour to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained on the website for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk.

In no event will we be liable for any loss or damage including without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage, or any loss or damage whatsoever arising from loss of data or profits arising out of, or in connection with, the use of this website.

Through this website, you are able to link to other websites which are not under the control of BionicBasil. We have no control over the nature, content and availability of those sites. The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.

Every effort is made to keep the website up and running smoothly. However, BionicBasil takes no responsibility for, and will not be liable for, the website being temporarily unavailable due to technical issues beyond our control.

Individual Blog Post Disclaimers

Please note that these posts are for personal use only and not for commercial use in any capacity. 

Crafting with Cats

We at BionicBasil HQ are not responsible or liable for any injuries to person/s and/or cat/s, crafting addictions, glue on cats, paper cuts, misplaced pins and needles, cats stealing your supplies, broken scissors, cat fur stuck on your projects, or your project not turning out as planned.  By using this information, you hereby agree to indemnify and hold harmless BionicBasil and staff from and against any and all claims for personal injuries or damages or losses of any kind arising from the use of any Crafting With Cats posts we may share.

Gardening with Cats

We at BionicBasil HQ are not responsible or liable for any injuries to person/s and/or cat/s, gardening addictions, compost on cats, misplaced tools and gloves, cats stealing your string, broken plants, or your project not turning out as planned. By using this information, you hereby agree to indemnify and hold harmless BionicBasil and staff from and against any and all claims for personal injuries or damages of any kind arising from use of any Gardening With Cats posts we may share.

*    *    *
 FYI: we scan all our Google Drive links and files prior to the posts going live to check for any viruses/threats with this online version of Kaspersky   

Colouring with Cats

By downloading our free colouring mandalas and/or Colouring with Cats Books and using this information, you hereby agree to indemnify and hold harmless BionicBasil and staff from and against any and all claims for personal injuries or damages or computer viruses and/or computer damage of any kind and the like of any kind arising from your use of any Colouring With Cats posts we may share. 

Brain Training with Cats

By downloading our free sudoku puzzles and/or crosswords and/or word search puzzles and using this information you hereby agree to indemnify and hold harmless BionicBasil and staff from and against any and all claims for personal injuries or damages or computer viruses and/or computer damage of any kind and the like of any kind arising from your use of any Brain Training With Cats posts we may share.

Cat Hazards and Health Tip Posts

 We are not vets, animal medical professionals, animal doctors or have any formal qualifications in animal health. If mew are worried or concerned about anything at all, purrlease take your feline furiend to your purrsonal veterinarian or other health care provider and seek expert advice and assistance immediately.

Contact Details

Name: Cathrine Garnell 

Email Address: deardrbasil @ gmail.com

And now we've suitably melted your mind, and your brain just slid out of your ears, purrlease feel free to check out our other posts which are a lot more fun!

Epic purrs

Wing Commander Basil & The B Team

Disclaimer:

We are not lawyers, we've had no formal advice, this info has been put together after hours and hours of mind-numbing research. There is not much actual advice for simple hobby/purrsonal bloggers like ourselves and the new GDPR ruling, which we feel is purretty crappy and rather a letdown in terms of having a non-monetised purrsonal blog.  And the majority of the content we read is in lawyer-speak, and for us that may as well be Klingon or some other completely obscure language. 

We believe that we have fully met the requirements of the GDPR, so far as it relates to this blog, its content, and how our visitors interact with us, and we them. Howeffur, if mew think we've missed anything or there's something else we should be doing, feel free to contact us at:

deardrbasil @ gmail . com



The templates we used were from FREE sources only, though just as the P.A. was finishing up, we had a power-spike and the computer shut down unexpectedly, and unfortunately, the browsing history was wiped and we couldn't find the web links again.

So if any of these templates are from your website, purrlease let us know and we'll add your attribute with purrleasure and we can't thank mew enough for creating them - THANK MEW!


Graphics created with paid licence @www.canva.com