President Joe Biden announced Monday, September 13, he plans to nominate privacy hawk Alvaro Bedoya to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
If confirmed, the nomination would finalize Biden’s picks to the influential independent agency, allowing Democrats to move forward with an ambitious agenda on competition and privacy enforcement. Bedoya would take the seat occupied by Democratic Commissioner Rohit Chopra, who is awaiting confirmation to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
The FTC is composed of five commissioners who vote on enforcement actions and policy decisions, with no more than three commissioners coming from a single party.
Bedoya currently serves as founding director of the Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown Law. His academic work has scrutinized surveillance technologies including facial recognition. That expertise could be an important addition for the FTC, which is currently chaired by Biden’s other nominee, antitrust law expert Lina Khan.
Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina M. Khan issued the following statement regarding the White House nomination of Alvaro Bedoya to serve as an FTC Commissioner:
“Congratulations to Alvaro Bedoya on his nomination. Alvaro’s expertise on surveillance and data security and his longstanding commitment to public service would be enormously valuable to the Commission as we work to meet this moment of tremendous need and opportunity. I wish him the very best in his confirmation process.”
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