By the end of June, frequent flyers may be able to slip through airport security checkpoints faster thanks to a Registered Traveler program that's been successfully tested at several airports. But our Savvy Traveler, Rudy Maxa, says the definition of background checks is expanding, and that may not be a great idea.

Here's the deal: For an annual fee of between $80 and $100, airline passengers tired of taking off their shoes, removing laptops from carrying cases, and being subjected to random searchs can become Registered Travelers.

That's the name of a Transportation Security Administration program developed with the Homeland Security folks and several private companies aimed at speeding frequent flyers through security lines. Flyers who want to participate pay their money, submit to a government background check and provide 10 fingerprints.

It's that background check that's causing some controversy. Checking arrest records and terrorist lists is one thing. But now the TSA says it may also check credit reports, property records . . . even shopping histories . . . to see if someone is, well, a regular kinda guy. The theory is, if you're a terrorist, you won't show up in those kinds of searches. Finally--a case in which even a BAD credit report is good.

But it's not the government who will be doing all that snooping. It's the half dozen or so private firms that will issue those Registered Traveler smart cards. And given the bad record lately of companies to keep a tight rein on the most intimate information of citizens, I worry about this. Last year, Congress barred the TSA from using commercial data about airline passengers after the agency did just that, storing details on 100 million records of travelers after saying such storage would never happen.

Then there's the other side of the coin: Files such as credit reports are famously unreliable. They're filled with bad information and misspelled names. Someone could mistakenly be labeled a terrorist and spend the next year of their life trying to convince Uncle Sam and the airlines otherwise. In the last several years, people have turned up on terrorist lists who don't belong there and who've been frustrated in their attempts to get their names expunged.

The TSA says, "No worries," this program is entirely voluntary, so only folks willing to give up some of their privacy will have their financial records examined. But if my fingerprints match and I can show a valid birth certificate or passport and my name isn't on any terrible person's list, isn't that sufficient?

One more thing. Several companies are vying to issue these smart cards. During testing at several airports last year, the cards that worked at one airport couldn't be used at another. That can't happen when this program goes nationwide this summer.

A former administrator for TSA--now in a private counsulting business in DC--has formed the Voluntary Credentialing Industry Coaltion to achive just that. As always, Washington is here to help.

From Saint Paul, I'm Rudy Maxa for Marketplace.

January 25, 2006