General provisions

(a) Rules of construction with respect to personal information and individuals In this Act— (1) any reference to information as being of or belonging to an individual shall be construed to mean that such information is linked or reasonably linkable to such individual as described in section 2(21)(A); and (2) any reference to any communication as being of or belonging to an individual shall be construed to mean that such individual is party to such communication. (b) Prohibition on waivers (1) In general The provisions under this Act may not be waived. Any agreement purporting to waive compliance with or modifying any provision of this Act shall be void as contrary to public policy. (2) Prohibition on predispute arbitration agreements No predispute arbitration agreement shall be valid or enforceable with respect to any claims under this Act. (c) Journalism protection (1) In general Covered entities engaged in journalism shall not be subject to the obligations imposed under this Act to the extent that those obligations directly infringe on the journalism rather than the business practices of the covered entity, so long as the covered entity has technical safeguards and business processes that prevent the collecting, processing, maintaining, or disclosing of such personal information for business practices other than journalism. (2) Journalism The term journalism includes the collecting, maintaining, processing, and disclosing of personal information about a public individual or official, or that otherwise concerns matters of public interest, for dissemination to the public. (d) Small business compliance ramp Upon losing its status as a small business, a covered entity shall have nine months to comply with provisions of this Act that a small business is exempt from complying with. (e) Prohibition on collecting, maintaining, processing, or disclosing personal information A covered entity may not collect, maintain, process, or disclose personal information using a channel of interstate commerce unless such covered entity is in compliance with all requirements of this Act.