California Fines, Bans Data Broker in Privacy Crackdown

Regulators Cite Sales of Sensitive Health, Demographic Data Marianne Kolbasuk McGee (HealthInfoSec) • January 12, 2026

California state regulators fined a Texas company that buys and sells data for targeted marketing, including lists pertaining to health conditions of older adults, as part of a crackdown on data brokers. The firm is now banned from selling all Californians' personal information.

The California Privacy Protection Agency Board announced Thursday the action against Rickenbacher Data, which does business as DataMasters, following a settlement reached by the board's enforcement division’s Data Broker Enforcement Strike Force. CalPrivacy said in November it would amp up investigations into data broker industry privacy violations.

The state agency said the firm traded in data pertaining to "millions of people with Alzheimer’s disease, drug ...