California has sued Florida data broker Jerico Pictures, Inc., “for failing to register and pay an annual fee as required by the Delete Act.”

California currently has some of the strongest privacy legislation in the U.S., a country that is noticeably lacking in federal privacy regulation. As part of its Delete Act, data brokers that operate within the state must register and pay an annual fee that helps fund the state’s Data Broker Registry. Failure to do so results in a $200 fine per day.

In the case of Jerico Pictures, which does business as National Public Data, the company registered on September 18, 2024, 230 days after the January 31, 2024 cutoff date.

“We will pursue data brokers who violate the law, plain and simple,” said Michael Macko, the California Privacy Protection Agency’s (CPPA) head of enforcement. “I applaud our Enforcement team for its dogged pursuit of these violations. The Enforcement Division will use all available tools, including litigation, to make sure that data brokers aren’t operating in the dark.”

It’s encouraging to see data brokers being held accountable, even if it is only on a state level.