A Veterans Day Salute from the Harris County Law Library

View fullsize

Click the photo to see a copy of the law that established Armistice Day (1938) as it appears on the Harris County Law Library shelves in the original 1921 U.S. Statutes at Large from the U.S. Government Publishing Office.

View fullsize

Click the photo to see a copy of the amended law (1954) that changed Armistice Day to Veterans Day. Also from the original 1921 U.S. Statutes at Large at Harris County Law Library, from the U.S. Government Publishing Office.

On this Veterans Day, with gratitude, the Harris County Law Library salutes all who have served.

In 1938, Congress passed a law, 52 Stat. 351 (pictured above), which established Armistice Day as a legal holiday. Congress amended the law in 1954 following World War II and the Korean War to honor all veterans, “striking out the word ‘Armistice’ and inserting in lieu thereof the word ‘Veterans’.” Later that year, President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued the first Veterans Day Proclamation. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy’s delivered remarks at the Armistice Day wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery.

Further reading on the History of Armistice/Veterans Day:

•  Law Library of Congress Armistice/Veterans Day blog post, In Custodia Legis

•  Remarks at the Veterans Day Ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery (1961)

•  U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs History of Veterans Day

Neglect of .govs Impacts Consumer Safety and Privacy During Government Shutdown

January is Consumer Law Resources Month at the Harris County Law Library. Consumer law research materials from our print collection are on display throughout the library until the end of the month. In particular, we are featuring titles from the National Consumer Law Center as well as self-help sources published by Nolo. Topics run the gamut from product liability and food safety to financial market transparency and identity protection.

With consumer law occupying our thoughts this month, we were naturally drawn to the headlines in recent days (see below) announcing the potential for compromised consumer safety during the federal government shutdown, now entering its 25th day.

• Consumer protection services falter during government shutdown (The Daily Dot)

• Consumer protection websites are down due to the government shutdown (The Verge)

As reported by the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, BBC, the Washington Post, and several other news organizations, a potentially increasing number of .gov websites are now blocked or completely inaccessible due to the inability of individual government agencies to renew their HTTPS security certificates. Tech Crunch explains:

Every time your browser lights up with “HTTPS” in green or flashes a padlock, it’s a TLS certificate encrypting the connection between your computer and the website, ensuring nobody can intercept and steal your data or modify the website. But TLS certificates are notoriously delicate things. Certificates expire — a common mistake as people often forget to renew them. Depending on the security level, most websites will kick back browser errors while other sites won’t let you in at all until the expired certificate is renewed. Except in this case, they can’t — because there’s nobody there to buy and install a new certificate

Websites affected by the shutdown include the US Department of Justice, the Courts of Appeals, and NASA. Also impacted is the Federal Trade Commission, which helps protect consumers from identity theft and scams by offering free credit reports and maintaining the “Do Not Call” registry. As a consequence of the shutdown, the Washington Post reports, a surge in robo-calls has already begun. Neither DoNotCall.gov nor IdentityTheft.gov is currently operational, thus reducing privacy protections and preventing victims from reporting their stolen personal and financial information.

As the shutdown continues, more website certificates will expire. This will expose the unprotected sites to vulnerabilities that hackers may exploit to gather data on citizen-consumers who, during periods of full government funding, enjoy the protections of the regulatory agencies operating in the best interest of all Americans.

View fullsize

Image credit: https://media.threatpost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/103/2019/01/11104051/tls-1.png

For a full history of all 20 previous federal government shutdowns dating back to 1976, take a look at this timeline from Vox, and for a humorous take on many of the government agency shutdown notices, ranked from panicked to indifferent, click here to get the rundown from Quartz.

Finally, don’t forget that the Law Library of Congress is operational, and access to this beginner’s guide to consumer protection is a great place to start your consumer law research.

Introducing govinfo

In 2009, the Government Publishing Office (then called the Government Printing Office) migrated all of its Federal Government resources from GPO Access to FDsys.gov. Providing access to federal statutes, regulations, and executive branch documents, FDsys was a government information goldmine. However, opinions about the site were mixed. While one reviewer described it as, "...well organized, with good symmetry, plain layout, and design," others found it unattractive and difficult to navigate. In any case, the GPO is migrating once again to a new and improved, next generation website. It's called govInfo, and it debuted in beta mode just two years ago. It features all the content and coverage offered by FDsys but the layout and design are much improved. Best of all, the new site is built for responsive design and optimized for display on mobile devices.

govinfo is the new front door to accessing the same content that's been available on FDsys for the last 7 years, with a focus on "implementing feedback from users and improving overall search and access to electronic Federal Government information."  FDsys will retire and will be completely replaced by govinfo by the end of 2018. During the transition period, be sure to update your bookmarks and links to govinfo.gov.

If you'd like to find the same documents on govinfo that you used to access on FDsys, look for the comparison chart that's available on the govinfo About page. Video tutorials are also provided along with a Help guide that links to information about what kind of content is available on govinfo and how to find it.