Noted in passing

The Transportation Security Administration plans to require airlines to ask for passengers' full names and birthdates when they buy their tickets.

Passengers do not have to provide it, though if they don't there's a better chance they'll have to undergo more stringent screening at the airport, Justin Oberman, the TSA official in charge of the program, said Wednesday.

Oberman said having passengers' full names and birth dates will make it less likely that they'll be confused with people who are known or suspected terrorists.

The purpose is yet another attempt to build a massive government database of personal information, this one called Secure Flight.

Secure Flight would allow the TSA to take over from the airlines the responsibility of checking passengers' names against the watch lists. ...

The program is supposed to work by transferring airline passengers' name records - which can include address, phone number and credit card information - to a government database. The government computer would flag names on the watch list and identify passengers who would be asked to go through additional screening.

Now, first, I wonder how common it will be to have airport shakedowns of people who don't willingly give the additional information just for the purpose of getting it into people's heads that they'd better do it just to avoid the hassle. Am I being paranoid? Perhaps, but "just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you."

But what I really wanted to note was that if indeed the proposal can do what it says and sharply reduce the number of people "inconvenienced" at the airport, it indicates how much can be found out about you now just by means of a name and a birthdate. And that, my friends does not make me feel more secure.