David Mazieres writes:

My last phone bill said that Nynex is now giving out people's names in addidtion to their phone numbers over caller-id. I therefore called Nynex and told them to block caller-id on my phone line.

They said no problem, but... They said nothing I can do will block it when I call 800 numbers. "The people with 800 numbers have special software, and there is nothing you can do to block your identity when calling them. Not even *67."

Wow. Maybe I'm not paranoid enough, but I never expected this. I can never again call an 800 number anonymously to get information about something unless I go out to a pay phone. What an incredible inconvenience, and how truly depressing.

I know 800 number owners probably used to be able to get lists of calling phone numbers on their phone bills, but this is less disturbing as it would take significant effort to match up the lists after the fact. I just want to be able to call up companies and say, for instance, "If I buy your product, can it do X?" as opposed to, for instance, "I'm stuck with your product, can it do X?". People are often more helpful in the former case. Now, though, they'll know exactly who I am before they even say hello.

David

800 (And 888/900 etc.) numbers use a different mechanism (ANI) than caller ID to provide your telephone number to the person you are calling. This has been around far longer than caller ID, and really doesn't have all that much to do with the caller ID service, which is entirely different. So in essence, nothing's really changed with regard to 800 numbers, except that people are now becoming _aware_ that the called party has access to their telephone number. If you want additional information, I'd recommend starting with the FAQ for the alt.2600 newsgroup. Dana W. Albrecht dwa@corsair.com