Alvaro Bedoya
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Alvaro Bedoya | |
|---|---|
 Bedoya in 2022 | |
| Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission | |
| In office May 16, 2022 – June 9, 2025 Disputed: March 18, 2025 – June 9, 2025[1] | |
| President | Joe Biden Donald Trump |
| Preceded by | Rohit Chopra |
| Succeeded by | Vacant |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1982 (age 43–44) |
| Party | Democratic |
| Education | Harvard University (BA) Yale University (JD) |
Alvaro Martin Bedoya[2] (born February 21, 1982) is an American attorney and government official who served as a commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from 2022 until his purported firing[3] or his resignation[1] in 2025.
Known for his focus on digital privacy issues, Bedoya was the founding director of the Center on Privacy and Technology at the Georgetown University Law Center.[4] Bedoya is a member of the Democratic Party and was nominated to the position by President Joe Biden.[5]
Bedoya was born in 1982 in Lima, Peru, and was raised in Vestal, New York.[6] Bedoya received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard College and a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School. While at Yale, Bedoya served as an Editor on the Yale Law Journal.[7]
During law school, Bedoya worked at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Wilmer Hale, and for Senator Ted Kennedy on the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees, and Border Security.[8]
Legal career
After law school, Bedoya was an associate at Wilmer Hale from 2007 to 2009. He then served as chief counsel to the United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law.[9] Bedoya also served as chief counsel to Senator Al Franken (D-MN).[10]
He then founded and directed the Center on Privacy and Technology at Georgetown Law, where he also served as a Professor of Law.[11] Bedoya is known for his opposition to government surveillance, and has argued that the right to privacy is a civil liberty.[12] In a 2018 article in The New York Times, Bedoya criticized Facebook, Google, and other technology companies for alleged violations of user privacy rights.[13] Bedoya advocated for the removal of advertisements for payday loan services on Google, stating that the "internet should not be a place that profits from your weaknesses".[14]
Bedoya's work has been published in publications such as The New York Times,[13] The Washington Post,[15] and The Atlantic.[16]
