Caller Id

LAUREL -- Those show mutuels on yesterday's Laurel Race Course simulcast of the Sanford Stakes from Saratoga are no misprint.Laurel publicity director Damon Thayer said one bettor at the Pimlico intertrack facility wagered "about $11,000" to show on heavily favored Salt Lake. After the colt was eased in the stretch, the Tote board flashed big payoffs on the top three finishers.Caller I.D., the race winner, paid $7.20 to win -- and $19.60 to show. And the 2-3 finishers, Pick Up the Phone and Money Run, paid $21.80 and $28.60 to show, respectively.

Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Co. now wants to do for businesses with centrex systems what it does for residential customers: Give them a way to peek at the numbers of incoming calls.Under a C&P plan submitted to the Public Service Commission last week, any business with three or more lines could buy Caller ID.The controversial service, which permits users to obtain the numbers of incoming calls, has been available in Maryland since October 1989.To avoid detection by Caller ID, callers must dial the code "star-6-7" before placing a call.

SIMON SAYS:I don't care what anyone says, we didn't have weather like this before they launched the Hubble Space Telescope.*A good vacuum cleaner should last you a lifetime. (If you don't live too long.)*Should we tell our children that if they, too, "experiment" with illegal drugs, they may grow up to be nominated to the Supreme Court?*Even with two new cities getting National League franchises, Baltimore still remains the only city in North America to have major league baseball and no other major league teams.

Letters, calls and the roar of the crowd:Mrs. Sonia Taich, Hampstead: If you ever leave The Sun, will you please let me know where you're going?COMMENT: I'll be leaving The Sun today to go get an oil change for my car. I'll be going to the dealer because I had a bad experience with one of those quick-change places. Should be back tomorrow.*Bob Krasmansky, Ellicott City: The people of Baltimore, those who come like lemmings to Orioles games, those who get emotionally involved as if it were "their" team, should buy it!

While phone companies and civil libertarians square off over the virtues of Caller ID, Corporate America is stockpiling information about its customers by using a similar number-identification technology.The corporate version of Caller ID, known as Automatic Number Identification, is sold by the long-distance telephone companies to a range of commercial customers. Like Caller ID, ANI passes along the numbers -- listed and unlisted -- of incoming calls to commercial customers without the consent or knowledge of callers.

Caller IDEditor: In Roger Simon's recent article on Caller ID, he was incorrect in his assumption that Caller ID would make having a non-published number useless. Simon should have realized that non-published numbers would still not be accessible to the general public. The caller with an unpublished number can only be identified by those people he calls. Therefore, having an unpublished number would still serve a purpose.John Homans.Baltimore. Editor: Though I want peace just as much as anyone, I can't understand those who would have it without cost.

People who don't like the idea of their phone numbers, unpublished or not, showing up on Caller ID devices across the state will get some relief starting Sunday in the form of free blocking.In keeping with last month's order from the Public Service Commission, C&P Telephone Co. plans to start offering free, per-call blocking on Sunday, said commission spokesman Frank Fulton.Touch-tone phone users need only dial a three-digit code -- star, 6,7 -- before placing a call to ensure that their telephone number doesn't pop up on a Caller ID device, which is used in connection with C&P's Caller ID service.

Black MarshEditor: The article "Wonderful Life" (Opinion * Commentary, Dec. 26) leads me to write about my visit to Black Marsh in eastern Baltimore County.There, for the first time in my life, I saw bald eagles in flight. In the 1,310-acre park of wetlands and woods, I saw hawks and herons and deer and the tracks of muskrats. I saw the beautiful open water of the Chesapeake Bay. All this lies within 15 minutes of the Baltimore beltway. I talked with watermen who told me that the crabbing was good and that this year's rockfish hatch there had been more successful than in most parts of the bay.Now I understand that the Maryland Department of Natural Resources wants to pour some concrete over this very beautiful and also valuable natural resource.

Losing its first round of appeals yesterday, Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Co. was again ordered to let customers block the company's controversial Caller ID service.The Public Service Commission turned down the telephone company's request for a rehearing of last month's order that callers should be allowed to keep their telephone numbers private if they choose.The five-member panel of state regulators told the company that it must offer the free Caller ID blocking service within 45 days and send out bill inserts telling people how to prevent their telephone numbers from appearing on special devices that can trace incoming calls.

If a stranger came up to you on the street and asked for your home phone number, would you give it to him?Of course you wouldn't. You're not that dumb.You know that your home phone number is a private thing. And you know that if a person has your phone number, he can find out where you live.So you wouldn't give out your phone number to just anyone.Unless the Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Co. gets its way. In which case, your phone number will be public property every time you place a call.