State law often allows companies to be fined for each infraction they make, whereas the FTC will usually fine a company only after it has been found guilty and re-committed the same violation, said Brookman.

The unit will be part of the California Justice Department's electronic crimes unit, and its staff will include six prosecutors who specialize in privacy enforcement. Some staff have already been hired, and LeBlanc said he expects the unit to be fully staffed in a few months.

Announcement of the unit comes five months after the with Apple, Google, Research In Motion, Amazon, Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft, to ensure that users can read the privacy policies on all mobile applications before downloading and installing the apps. The group was joined by Facebook in June.

One of the unit's first tasks will be a check-in with the companies to see how they have lived up to the agreement.

"In terms of enforcement, we have targeted our efforts in the mobile space," said LeBlanc. "We're seeing lots of privacy concerns there. Some people see it as the wild, wild West. We intend to start enforcing the California Online Privacy Act."