[xattt]

The party lines I’m talking about are shared loops between a group of residents in a rural area.

Some of the first-hand accounts I’ve read talked about neighbours listening in on conversations. People could tell a snooper was on the line because the volume of the other caller would drop. There was a social aspect to the whole enterprise because you could tell the one nosy neighbour to get off the line and the volume would magically raise.

(1) http://www.islandregister.com/phones/partyline.html