Legal & Privacy
KAT Curious Universe is a personal creative project by Kristina De Schepper, combining illustrated stories, humour, discoveries and culinary inspiration. Its purpose is to offer a little breathing space, spark curiosity and leave visitors with a smile.
Creative direction & AI assistance
Kristina De Schepper is the creator and creative mind behind KAT Curious Universe. She develops its characters, stories and visual direction, selects and edits the material, and makes the final decisions about what is published.
Generative AI tools, including ChatGPT by OpenAI, support the development of ideas, the drafting and refinement of texts, the generation of illustrations and the creation of the website. AI-generated material is selected, reviewed and, where appropriate, edited before publication.
KAT Curious Universe is independent. References to ChatGPT describe a tool used in the creative process and do not imply sponsorship, endorsement or an official partnership with OpenAI.
Fiction & real-world inspiration
Mimma, Truffle and the other invented characters are fictional. Their adventures combine imagination with real places, cultural traditions, historical subjects and everyday experiences.
Some stories, particularly those involving business and working life, draw on general observations and familiar situations. They are not intended to portray or make allegations about specific individuals, employers or organisations. Any unintended resemblance to identifiable persons or organisations is coincidental.
Real locations, products or organisations may appear as part of a story or discovery. Their inclusion does not, by itself, imply affiliation, sponsorship or endorsement. Illustrations are creative interpretations and may contain fictional elements or visual inaccuracies.
Information & accuracy
KAT is primarily a creative storytelling and entertainment project. Factual notes and discoveries are intended to encourage curiosity, rather than serve as an authoritative reference or professional advice.
Reasonable care is taken when preparing content. Nevertheless, errors, omissions, simplifications and outdated information may occur, including in material developed with AI assistance. Accuracy, completeness and continuing relevance cannot be guaranteed. Please independently verify information before relying on it for practical decisions. Corrections and constructive feedback are welcome.
Recipes & culinary inspiration
Recipes and culinary notes are shared for enjoyment and inspiration. Results, preparation times and cooking times may vary depending on ingredients, equipment, quantities and methods.
Use appropriate food hygiene, storage and cooking practices, and follow relevant product instructions. Check that food is adequately cooked rather than relying on the stated time alone.
Check ingredients and product labels for allergens and suitability for your dietary needs. Suggested substitutions do not guarantee that a dish is free from allergens or suitable for a particular medical condition. Recipes do not replace individual medical or nutritional advice. Seek qualified advice where needed.
Copyright & sharing
KAT includes original writing, character development, visual arrangements and other creative contributions by Kristina De Schepper, alongside AI-assisted material. Copyright and other intellectual property rights apply where recognised by law. Third-party material remains subject to its owners’ rights.
You are welcome to share links to the website and its stories. For reproduction, adaptation, republication, commercial use or use of the characters and branding, please request permission through the contact form, except where applicable law permits otherwise. Please do not remove credits or copyright notices, or present KAT content as your own work.
Privacy & cookies
KAT aims to keep things simple, transparent and respectful—and that includes your privacy. Kristina De Schepper, based in Belgium, is responsible for the website’s own processing of personal data. The privacy contact form remains available even when the ordinary KAT mailbox is closed.
Your choice
Optional browser-based visit statistics are off until you select “Allow optional statistics”. Selecting “No optional statistics” lets you enjoy the website and leave reactions without browser-based visit tracking. Both choices are available on the same notice. Use “Privacy choices” at the bottom of any page to change your decision. Your choice is remembered for six months, after which you are asked again.
Anonymous server page totals
When the server delivers an eligible public page, it increments a total for that day and page. This happens whether you accept or decline optional statistics. Recognised owners, identifiable bots, automation and marked test visits are excluded from new measurements. This filtering inspects existing request metadata without storing it and cannot identify every bot. This counter uses the existing page request, without an additional tracking request or reading or placing tracking information on your device. It stores only the calendar day, the public page path and its total count. It does not record IP addresses, browser or session identifiers, query strings, referrers, device fingerprints, individual event times or browsing histories. Anonymous totals are kept for 24 calendar months and are not linked to optional visit statistics or reactions.
These figures count page requests, not unique people or confirmed reading. Reloads and automated traffic may count. Recognised signed-in owner visits, private previews, assets and identified prefetch requests are excluded. Hosting connection processing remains separate, as explained below.
Optional visits & requested reactions
With your consent, visit statistics record the page, time, random browser code and visit-session code. They help understand popular stories, busy weekdays and seasonal patterns. With the same optional statistics choice, opening KAT News, the Mailbox or Get KAT updates also increments a daily action total. These action totals store only the day, action and count, without browser codes, and are kept for 24 calendar months. The website’s own statistics do not store names, email addresses or IP addresses. Random codes still distinguish browsers, so these detailed records are treated as pseudonymous data, not fully anonymous data.
A visit session ends after 30 minutes of inactivity. Different browsers and cleared cookies may count separately. Recognised signed-in owner visits are excluded. Figures cover consenting visitors and are an estimate of activity, not a count of everyone who reads a story.
Reactions work separately from optional statistics. Clicking a reaction asks the website to remember that browser’s choice, so it can be changed without counting both choices. After three months without an update, the linked reaction becomes an unlinked total. A later reaction may then count as a new choice.
Storage & retention
| Item | Purpose | Retention |
|---|---|---|
| kat_test cookie · explicitly marked test browsers only | Exclude test visits from statistics | Browser session; removable with ?kat_test=0 |
| kat_privacy cookie | Remember the statistics choice | Six months |
| kat_stats cookie | Recognise consenting browsers for visits | 90 days from the latest consented statistics session; cleared on withdrawal |
| kat_visit_session, session storage | Group consented page views into a visit | Browser tab session; renewed after 30 minutes of inactivity |
| kat_reaction cookie | Remember a requested reaction | 90 days from the latest reaction |
| Detailed visits and linked reactions | Process counts and remember choices | Three calendar months, followed by automated cleanup |
| Day totals without browser codes | Compare activity over time | 24 calendar months |
| Unlinked reaction totals | Keep the story’s accumulated encouragement | While the story and project remain available |
| kat_mailbox cookie | Limit repeated requested message submissions | One day from the latest submission |
| Mailbox anti-spam records | Limit repeated messages | One day, followed by automated cleanup |
| Privacy/contact requests stored on the website | Handle requests and correspondence | Up to 12 months; the owner can delete them sooner |
Cleanup is performed when the site is used. Expired detailed records are excluded from the owner reports even before physical cleanup. Day totals contain counts, dates and pages, without browser or session codes. The private owner overview shows daily counts for the current and previous calendar month, with a monthly export. Daily net reaction changes are also kept for these two months, without browser identifiers. Earlier reaction totals remain separate.
You can use “Remove this browser’s linked data” to remove recognisable visit details and current reactions, clear their cookies and switch off optional browser statistics. Unlinked totals remain. Clearing browser storage alone does not erase records already stored in the database. You can also manage cookies through your browser; this may affect interactive features.
Mailbox & contact requests
When the ordinary KAT mailbox is open, your message and optional name and email are used to read your feedback and, where appropriate, reply. A reply is not guaranteed. Messages are forwarded through the configured email service; the website database does not store ordinary mailbox message contents. Sending a message does not subscribe you to updates. Attachments are not accepted.
The separate privacy contact form stores your email, request and submission date in the owner’s protected overview so it works without an email delivery service. Your email is required to respond. Please do not submit identity documents or sensitive personal information. Ordinary mailbox correspondence in the owner’s inbox is reviewed and normally deleted within 12 months after it has been handled, unless a specific legal need requires longer retention.
Optional email updates
When sign-ups are open, the KAT mailbox in Cruiser Bay lets you request occasional emails for the whole KAT Curious Universe or selected worlds. Signing up is voluntary and separate from sending a message or accepting visit statistics.
We store your email address, requested preferences, dates of request and confirmation, and the applicable consent-text version. Initially, Kristina sends confirmation emails manually from her KAT Google email account. If automatic confirmations are enabled, they are sent through Resend. Your choices become active only after you open its link and press Confirm subscription; an existing subscription is not changed until you confirm the new choices. Confirmation links expire after 48 hours and can be used once.
Kristina sends the notices manually from her KAT email account. Current recipient lists are selected from confirmed subscriptions. Addresses are placed in BCC so other recipients do not see them.
Every notice includes the same unsubscribe page. Enter your subscribed address and press Unsubscribe to stop all KAT updates, without an account or a confirmation email. Withdrawal removes you immediately from the website’s active mailing lists. Already-sent messages cannot be recalled. Kristina must also remove withdrawn addresses from any separately saved contact groups before mailing again.
Unconfirmed registrations are kept for up to 14 days. Active subscriptions are kept for up to 24 months after their latest confirmation; renewal requires another confirmation. After withdrawal, the email, previous consent and withdrawal dates may be retained for up to six months to record the request and prevent use of stale mailing lists, then removed. Cleanup follows the website’s automated retention process described above.
Legal bases & service providers
The anonymous server counter retains only unlinked totals, rather than personal records. Optional browser-based visit statistics and email update subscriptions rely on consent. You can withdraw it without affecting the lawfulness of earlier processing. Remembering privacy choices and requested reactions, handling messages and protecting the website rely on the legitimate interests of running this creative project, responding to visitors and preventing misuse, balanced against visitors’ rights. Limited records of withdrawn subscriptions are retained on the legitimate interests of documenting consent and honouring opt-outs.
The website runs through ChatGPT Sites (OpenAI) using Cloudflare hosting and database infrastructure. These services may process connection information, including IP addresses, to deliver and secure the website. Their technical logs are separate from KAT’s own statistics. When enabled, the ordinary mailbox and subscription confirmation emails use Resend. Manually sent notices and ordinary correspondence use the owner’s Google email and contact services. Personal information is not sold or used by KAT for advertising profiles.
These international services may process data outside the European Economic Area. Their published privacy and data-processing terms describe their roles, retention and transfer safeguards, such as applicable adequacy arrangements or standard contractual clauses. See OpenAI’s European privacy policy, Cloudflare’s privacy policy, Cloudflare’s data-processing terms and Resend’s privacy policy and Google’s privacy policy. You may ask for further information through the privacy contact form.
Your rights
Subject to the conditions in applicable law, you may request access, correction, deletion, restriction or portability of your personal data, or object to processing. Where consent is used, you can withdraw it at any time. Some requests concerning browser-linked records require the relevant browser identifier; you do not need to provide extra identity information merely to visit KAT.
Use the privacy contact form to exercise your rights. You may also complain to the Belgian Data Protection Authority.
Contact & changes
For privacy requests, corrections or permission to reuse content, contact Kristina through the contact form. This notice will be updated when relevant features, providers or data practices change, including a future move to another hosting environment or the introduction of subscriptions or sales.
Nothing in this notice limits rights or excludes responsibility where doing so is not permitted by applicable law.
Last updated: 27 October 2026.
© 2026 Kristina De Schepper — KAT Curious Universe. Rights reserved where applicable.