Pedro is postdoctoral fellow working on the Usable Privacy Project. He received his Ph.D. in Engineering and Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University, where he was part of the CyLab Usable Privacy and Security Laboratory. His dissertation focused on investigating different aspects of privacy notice and choice across various application domains with the goal of informing with empirical data the design of policy frameworks and technology solutions that can better protect Internet users' online privacy. He has done research on various privacy-related areas including, online behavioral advertising (OBA), financial privacy, web privacy, and social networks.
Broadly speaking, his research focuses on informing the design of both government and industry's policies to be able to achieve a balance between the benefits and potential risks of new information and communication technologies. He is particularly interested in online privacy, security, telecommunications, information transparency, law, and regulation. His research uses both quantitative and qualitative methods including usability testing, online surveys, interviews, statistical modeling, and large-scale analysis of companies' disclosed practices.
Pedro obtained his masters degree in Information Security Technology and Management in 2010 from the Information Networking Institute at Carnegie Mellon University and his bachelors degree in Telecommunications Engineering in 2003 from the School of Engineering at the National Autonomous University of Mexico
Before joining CMU Pedro worked for the Central Bank of Mexico from 2003 to 2008. Previously he had worked as a research assistant supporting Professor Rogelio Alcantara with the evaluation of adaptive filtering algorithms for digital communications.
Pedro is certified as an Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US) and Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP).