Home Page > Legislative Branch > Public and Private Laws > Authenticated Public and Private Laws > About/Help

Authenticated Public and Private Laws: About/Help
                                     --Beta Release--

GPO’s Authentication initiative focuses on the primary objective of assuring users that the information made available by GPO is official and authentic and that trust relationships exist between all participants in electronic transactions. In furthering GPO’s mission to provide permanent public access to authentic U.S. Government publications, GPO is working to afford users further assurance that files electronically disseminated through GPO Access are unchanged since GPO authenticated them and provide security for and safeguard Federal Government publications that fall within scope of the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP).

The Public and Private Laws Beta application provides authenticated Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files for the 110th Congress only. Public and private laws within this application contain PDF files digitally signed and certified by GPO. These files have been digitally signed and certified using Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) technology. GPO is using PKI and Digital Signature technologies to verify the authenticity of the electronic U.S. Government documents that it disseminates through the FDLP. GPO’s Seal of Authenticity notifies users that a document has not been altered since it was authenticated and disseminated by GPO.

Public and private laws are prepared and published by the Office of the Federal Register (OFR), National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The database is updated when the publication of a slip law is authorized by OFR. Documents are available in ASCII text and as authenticated PDF files.

Additional information about Public and Private Laws-
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/plaws/about.html

Signing and Certifying a Document

When GPO certifies a PDF document, they attest to its contents and disallow any changes to the document. This means that a document will no longer be certified if users replace, highlight, insert, underline, or cross out text. Furthermore, the document will no longer be certified if users add pages, delete pages, or add comments. When GPO certifies a document, users will still be able to select text and then copy and paste the text into a new document. It is important to note that when users copy and paste sections of a certified document into a new document, the authenticity of the original document will not carry over into the new document.

In addition to certifying a document, GPO uses digital signature technology to add a visible Seal of Authenticity to authenticated and certified PDF documents. When GPO saves a document as certified and signed, a blue ribbon icon appears to the left of the Seal of Authenticity and in the Signatures tab within Adobe Acrobat or Reader. When users print a document that has been signed and certified by GPO, the Seal of Authenticity will automatically print on the document, but the blue ribbon will not print.

Instructions for Validating Digital Signatures

GPO uses a digital certificate to apply digital signatures to PDF documents. In order for users to validate the certificate that was used by GPO to apply a digital signature to document, a chain of certificates or a certification path between the certificate and an established point of trust must be established, and every certificate within that path must be checked.

• Users must be connected to the Internet in order to have the ability to validate a digital signature on a PDF document. If a user is not connected to the Internet, the Certification Question Mark icon will display. Please see the Validation Icons section for more information.

• Adobe Acrobat or Reader 8.0
• Validation is seamless in 8.0
• A PowerPoint presentation has been created to demonstrate the validation process.

• Adobe Acrobat or Reader 7.0
• Validation is seamless in 7.0
• A PowerPoint presentation has been created to demonstrate the validation process.

View Signed Version

If changes are made to the signed version of a document, Adobe Acrobat and Reader provide the capability to view the signed version. To access this feature, click on the Signatures Tab, and choose "View Signed Version" from the Options Menu. If multiple versions are available, users will have the ability to select this option, if multiple versions are not available, this option will be grayed out.

Help Documentation from Adobe

Additional help information is available from the Adobe Acrobat (or Reader) Help file which is part of the Adobe software. To access additional help on validating digital signatures, open Acrobat or Reader, click on "Help," click on "Adobe Acrobat (or Reader) Help," click on "Search," and use the following search term: Digitally Signing Adobe PDF Documents.

GPO Seal of Authenticity

Validation Icons

The following is a list of icons that are used by Adobe to convey information about digital signatures.

	The Blue Ribbon icon indicates that the certification is valid.
	The Certification Question Mark icon means that the document was certified, but the validity is unknown. The signer's identity is unknown, because the certificate path could not be built. This icon may appear if a user is not connected to the Internet or if a digital certificate is not available on a user's computer. Please refer to the Instructions for Validating Digital Signatures section for more information.
	The Check Mark icon indicates that the signature is valid.
	The Question Mark icon indicates that the signature could not be verified.
	The Warning Sign icon indicates that the document was modified after the signature was added.
	The Red "X" icon indicates that the certification is not valid.

Certificate Information

Name: Superintendent of Documents
Organization: United States Government Printing Office
Signed By: Superintendent of Documents
Signer's Contact Information: contactcenter@gpo.gov
Location: United States Government Printing Office, Washington D.C.
Reason for Signing: GPO attests that this document has not been altered since it was disseminated by GPO.

A service of the U.S. Government Printing Office.

Last updated: May 16, 2007
Page Name: http://fdlpdev.gpo.gov/plaws/about.html