Last updated: January 15, 2026
The Party Line is a temporary public project by Matter Neuroscience, Inc.
It connects two public phones in different U.S. cities to invite real conversations between strangers.
If you pick up the phone, here’s what you should know.
What this is
The Party Line places one phone in each of two cities. When someone picks up one phone, it rings the other.
There’s no script. No prompts. Just a live connection.
This experience is intended for participants 18 years of age or older.
What may be recorded
To document this project, we may collect:
We do not collect:
How your participation works
Participation is completely optional. By picking up the phone and staying on the line, you consent to:
You’re free to hang up at any time.
How recordings may be used
Recordings may be edited and shared to:
We’re interested in human moments — the good, not the gotchas.
Please don’t share sensitive information
This is a public project. We ask that you do not share personal, private, or sensitive information during a call.
Matter is not responsible for what other participants say.
Who has access to recordings
Recordings may be accessed by:
Some recordings may be shared publicly.
How long recordings are kept
We keep recordings only as long as needed to produce and share content from the project.
Your choices
If you have questions or want to request deletion of raw recordings, you can contact us at:
dpo@matter.xyz
Once content is publicly released, removal may not always be possible — but we’ll approach requests thoughtfully.
Who we are
The Party Line is operated by:
Matter Neuroscience, Inc.
dpo@matter.xyz
This page applies only to The Party Line installation.
For Matter’s general privacy practices, see: matter.xyz/privacy
One final note
This project exists to explore connection, curiosity, and shared humanity.
Thanks for being part of it.