"The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has confirmed that it is testing a new security program that subjects airline passengers to more stringent screening that involves checking personal financial and other information and assigning a threat level to each passenger."

The program is called Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System II (CAPPS II). It is at place in three airports. Only Delta airlines is cooperating so far, "but officials expect it to be rolled out to all passengers at Northwest Airlines and other carriers within the next 10 to 16 months."

CAPPS II is drawing fire from civil liberties groups and privacy advocates, who say it will collect an unprecedented amount of data on individuals and give no assurance of accuracy. They also say the plan lacks sufficient controls over who would have access to the information.

"The federal government now has the authority to seize information from wherever they can grab it, whether or not it's accurate, to create a dossier on you," said Charles Samuelson, executive director of the Minnesota Civil Liberties Union. "The TSA claims these records are going to be restricted, but according to these regulations, they're not. They're so open-ended that damn near anybody has access to these records."

The data collected would include bank records, credit reports and some law enforcement data, according to transportation officials.

The system rates passengers' risk potential under a color code. The vast majority of passengers will be rated green and subjected to only the usual checks; those rated yellow will undergo more thorough screening, and those rated red won't be allowed to fly. According to regulations published in the Jan. 15 Federal Register, a government publication, the system went into effect Feb. 24.

So far only Delta Airlines is particpating. Northwest will join in shortly. Mother Jones has more in Terror and Bad Credit.

Dubbed the Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System II, the program would analyze each passenger's financial records, along with other sources, then assign travelers a color-coded terrorist risk level. Under the system, green means all-clear to fly; yellow means more in-depth screening is needed; red means you're riding Greyhound. Not surprisingly, civil liberties groups are up in arms over the program. ...."'The federal government now has the authority to seize information from wherever they can grab it, whether or not it's accurate, to create a dossier on you,' said Charles Samuelson, executive director of the Minnesota Civil Liberties Union. 'The TSA claims these records are going to be restricted, but according to these regulations, they're not. They're so open-ended that damn near anybody has access to these records.'

Jan Glidewell in the St. Petersberg Times says this program is not something to shrug off--and questions its ability to catch terrorists.

In case you weren't listening closely, that "thunk" you just heard was another chunk of your civil rights hitting the floor in the name of homeland security.

I'm talking about CAPPS-II, the second generation of the Computer Assisted Passenger Pre-Screening System, with which the government now wants to pry into your credit and banking records before deciding whether you can board an airplane.

I guess if you are overdrawn on your checking account or in serious arrears with the Book of the Month Club, you automatically become some sort of a threat.

Now the government plans on snooping through my credit and banking records to see if I am patriotic enough to fly. Guess I'd better juice it up by using my credit cards to buy some of those "America, Love It or Leave It" bumper stickers and making conspicuous contributions to the Republican National Committee. And that's part of what makes all of his silly in a Condition Yellow (if that's what it is today) America.

Is it going to take hijackers long to figure out that they should use something other than their Bank of Baghdad MasterCard to buy tickets?

Update: Boycott Delta