CAI's Ed Howard Quoted in CalMatters on California's Child Online Privacy Laws, and Where They Still Fall Short
SAN DIEGO – Ed Howard, Senior Policy Advocate at the Children's Advocacy Institute (CAI) at the University of San Diego School of Law, was quoted extensively in a CalMatters article titled, "Brazil gives parents social media controls for their kids. Why doesn't California?"
The article, produced in partnership with Agência Pública, examines how California has led the nation over the past decade on child online privacy, from the California Consumer Privacy Act to the Age-Appropriate Design Code Act to the Protecting Our Kids from Social Media Addiction Act, but still lags behind more comprehensive international laws, like Brazil's newly enacted ECA Digital.
Howard traced the pace of change in California's approach to protecting children online.
"California, everything []here is changing and changing fairly dramatically within the last just four years," Howard said.
Asked why the U.S. hasn't matched the sweeping, single-package privacy laws passed by countries like Brazil, Howard pointed to structural differences in how the U.S. legislates, as well as the fast-changing nature of the issue itself. But he and other experts quoted in the piece agreed that the biggest obstacle is money.
"The thing that is by a wide margin, the biggest reason, is the power of money in our system and the fact that our system is uniquely vulnerable to the power of that money," Howard said.
According to the article and CalMatter analysis, tech companies poured more than $39 million into political spending and lobbying in California in 2025 alone, as the industry pushes back against stronger AI and privacy regulation.
Howard put the underlying incentive plainly: "When it comes to privacy, every business has a financial stake in there being very little privacy."
To read the full article by Colin Lecher and Maria Martha Bruno, visit CalMatters.
About the Children’s Advocacy Institute
The Children's Advocacy Institute (CAI), founded at the nonprofit University of San Diego School of Law in 1989, is one of the nation's premiere academic, research, and advocacy organizations working to improve the lives of children and youth, with special emphasis on improving the child protection and foster care systems and enhancing resources that are available to youth aging out of foster care.
In its academic component, CAI trains law students and attorneys to be effective child advocates throughout their legal careers. Its Child Advocacy Clinic gives USD Law students three distinct clinical opportunities to advocate on behalf of children and youth.
CAI's research and advocacy component, conducted through its offices in San Diego, Sacramento, and Washington, D.C., seeks to leverage change for children and youth through impact litigation, regulatory and legislative advocacy, and public education. Active primarily at the federal and state levels, CAI's efforts are multi-faceted—comprehensively and successfully embracing all tools of public interest advocacy to improve the lives of children and youth. To support CAI’s work, please visit our website.
About the School of Law
Each year, USD Law educates approximately 800 Juris Doctor and graduate law students from throughout the United States and around the world. The law school is best known for its offerings in the areas of business and corporate law, constitutional law, intellectual property, international and comparative law, public interest law and taxation.
USD School of Law is one of the 88 law schools elected to the Order of the Coif, a national honor society for law school graduates. The law school’s faculty is a strong group of outstanding scholars and teachers with national and international reputations. The school is accredited by the American Bar Association and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools. Founded in 1954, the law school is part of the University of San Diego, a private, independent, Roman Catholic university chartered in 1949.