President Joe Biden announced Monday that he plans to nominate privacy hawk Alvaro Bedoya to the Federal Trade Commission.
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 currently occupied by Democratic Commissioner Rohit Chopra, who is awaiting confirmation to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
The FTC is comprised 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.
