The MBTA is finally modernizing--out with the old tokens, and on with the new CharlieCards. Catching up with other mass transit systems as in New York and Washington DC, the CharlieCard will finally bring a level of convenience to the T will make passing through a T station like picking up a grande latte. I will gladly keep my CharlieCard sitting in my wallet next to my Starbucks Card.

The CharlieCards have not even permeated through each line of the T, and people are already shouting out "Big Brother." The Herald's front page story this morning, cleverly titled 'Charlie's' watching you: 'T' cards will track riders’ movements gives the new system a bad rap.

Soon it will track your movements and record your comings and goings in a vast government database. The CIA? The NSA? Nope, the MBTA.

Over the coming year, the T will install automated fare collection equipment at every subway station and on every bus, allowing riders to pay easily with taps of special smart cards in their names.

But each transaction with the plastic CharlieCards will be recorded electronically, creating a record of where users were at a particular time on a particular day. Those records could be subpoenaed by cops, courts or even lawyers in civil cases.

Aren't we going a bit overboard?

Does anyone flinch about using their credit cards, ATM cards, Fast Lane tags on the Mass Pike or those nifty little coupon tags on our keychains for various retail stores? Exxon-Mobil customers enjoy the convenience of the SpeedPass, which is quite handy. How about spyware on your computer? How about when Amazon.com or other online retailers make recommendations to you based on what you've already purchased? All your past purchases are sitting in a database, and only a court order away from being scrutinized. There is nothing the CharlieCard can do that these things can't do already. Current Monthly Pass holders may already have their travel patterns on record somewhere--if they purchased their pass with a credit card (how long would it take to match a credit card with the specific monthly pass and then call up the data on that pass?).

Big Brother? Come on. The CharlieCard can only document where you got on the subway system--it's anyone's guess where you get off the train. Security cameras can tell you more than a CharlieCard, it just takes a bit longer to do it.

If you want to live "off the grid," expect to spend a lot a time waiting. Time is money, and if I can save time during my commute, I'm going to do it. As a law abiding citizen with nothing to fear, I'll get my CharlieCard and wave to you from the train while you're waiting in line to pay for a paper CharlieTicket just so someone won't know whether or not you got on at North Station or Government Center.