Change the order of the columns in the list's settings (or the content type)

Why isn't "Column ordering" available in my list settings?
In another question I asked about ways one might obfuscate the design of a system, to prevent unauthorized cloning. One suggestion was that IC manufacturers are often willing to put custom labels on their chips. The idea is interesting, but my quantities are low enough that this would not be cost-effective. How might one remove or otherwise render unreadable the labels on ICs?
