The program is set to go into effect next summer. The Government isn't saying which airlines will conduct the testing program. But it does acknowledge its goal is to use it on all domestic travelers.

Here's how it will work:

Under the new program, the airline will send information about everyone who books a flight to the TSA, including full name, home address, home telephone number, date of birth and travel itinerary. If the computer system identifies a threat, the TSA will notify federal or local law enforcement authorities. The agency has not indicated the number or type of personnel needed to oversee the program.

The TSA will check each passenger in two steps. The first will match the passenger's name and information against databases of private companies that collect information on people for commercial reasons, such as their shopping habits. This process will generate a numerical score that will indicate the likelihood that the passenger is who he says he is. Passengers will not be informed of their color code or their numerical score.

The second step matches passenger information against government intelligence combined with local and state outstanding warrants for violent felonies.

We don't know why people aren't screaming bloody murder about this.

David A. Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union, worries that the computer screening program will go beyond its original goals. "This system is not designed just to get potential terrorists," Keene said. "It's a law enforcement tool. The wider the net you cast, the more people you bring in."

"This system is going to be replete with errors," said Barry Steinhardt, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's technology and liberty program. "You could be falsely arrested. You could be delayed. You could lose your ability to travel."

For more on the invidious, instrusive CAPPS program, go here--and send a fax from the site to your elected officials.

Update: Calpundit is great on Capps today--go here and here. Here's a sample:

Using a computer-based system to warn of potentially dangerous fliers might make sense even if it is annoying, but frankly, I don't care if Osama bin Laden is sitting next to me as long as he's been checked out thoroughly enough to ensure that he can't hijack the plane. Freedom of movement is one of the touchpoints that distinguishes free societies from police states, and any system that flatly prohibits certain people from traveling just doesn't pass the smell test.