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everyone's so paranoid about the RFID chips that are already in place in so many parts of our lives, so here's an item ( via Engadget and Pink Tentancle) about Hitach's new powder-sized RFID chipsto make us even more scared of Big Brother ( or little-Bother-ID thief). RFID chips are tiny microchips that use radio waves to do everything from conduct credit card transactions ( as on those little key-fob-Paypass Mastercard thingies) and pay for tolls (EZ Pass and its ilk) to keeping track of your devices and travel.( U.S. Passports) Hitachi plans to start marketing these new chips-- seriously no bigger than a speck of dust at 0.05 x 0.05mm -- in 2 to 3 years. The conpany says this super-tiny chip can be used in papaer, currency, gift certificates, adn the like, but some site's have pointed out, today's chips are already small enough for those uses. So, as Engadget cracked, does this mean we should be watching what we eat in case of some James-BOnd- style pepper shaker swap?Maybe, but is the terror around RFID over-hyped? According to those proponents of the technology, you really need to physically tap the RFID chip to something for the transaction to go through. And yet, whenI go through a toll booth, my RFID-enabled EZ Pass box is only about ten feet away from the sensor. So maybe it is time to watch what you eat, lest Big Brother starts to track you wirelessly ( or you spill some RFID powder from which eveil ID thieves can extract your vital stats!!!!) What do you think? Is RFID worth the conveniece or is it setting up some dangerous privacy_envasion precedents?