Privacy is dead, or at least coughing up blood. RFID chips, with their enormous potential for abuse are getting so small and so cheap they can be embedded in pretty much anything. The photo to the left shows Hitachi's latest offerings next to a few grains of salt.
Coincidently, a grain of salt is what you should take with any pronouncements that RFID is just an "improved bar code". Unlike UPC codes, each individual item has a unique identifier, that can be linked to the purchaser (you) and read from a distance. The numbering system is large enough so that every physical object on earth can have a unique number. RFID could enable an almost unimaginable level of surveillance by manufacturers, retailers and of course governments.
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