Richard Clark wrote:

And to invert the argument. When I lived in Europe in the late 50s
early 60s, Paris had such a funky telephone system that reportedly you
could dial a "special number" that put you into an open common trunk
where others would have been already deep in spontaneous conversation.
It was very popular and "exciting...." until they fixed it (in their
own time, of course - for the French that could have been many years
later).

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC

It probably wasn't "funky". It was just hacked.

It also existed in the US. The chances are that it was the same
destination type as it was here. In the US you could dial a number that
effectively put you into a conference. It was used for telco meet-me
maintenance traffic. Neither person needed to know the other's number.
I know someone that used to do music requests to their 6 MHz
(plus/minus) pirate broadcasts using this hidden conference bridge.
They were the first on the air as a pirate station in the US as far as I
know.

I don't condone it, but it was a long time ago, and the persons involved
have paid their dues. And are all good taxpaying citizens now.

tom
K0TAR