Airline reservation agents would provide a traveler's name, address, phone number, date of birth, and travel plans to the TSA, which would then check that information against a variety of commercial databases and an FBI watch list, said TSA spokeswoman Heather Rosenker.

The search would yield a final "threat assessment" of each passenger, but it would not reveal information like whether a person had outstanding parking tickets or was turned down for a loan, Rosenker said.

I can definitely see making sure that someone doesn't have a knife, gun or bomb in their luggage or on their person, but beyond that, I fail to see why it's necessary to do a government background check on every person who gets on a plane.

Scheduled for deployment in spring 2004, the Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System, or CAPPS II, would combine government intelligence with information from credit bureaus and other commercial data services to determine if a passenger had links to al Qaeda or other violent groups.

I wonder if this involves getting your bookstore records as well, so they can find out if you've been reading up on communism.

CNN.com - Traveler screening won't invade privacy - Mar. 14, 2003