PHILADELPHIA - The Franklin Annex opened Forgotten Keys Tuesday, an interactive exhibit chronicling humanity’s doomed relationship with authentication from 1994 through whatever yesterday’s reset email was about. Visitors enter through a replica AOL login screen and proceed through eras: the Post-It Period, the Capital-Letter-Number-Symbol Mandate, and the Current Age of Face ID That Fails When You Look Tired.
Curator Hal Voss said the show is part history, part intervention. "We display the password people reused for banking and pizza," Voss said, his voice tinged with a mix of frustration and resignation. "Then we gently escort them to a help desk." The exhibit’s layout mimics a typical home office setup from 1994, complete with an old CRT monitor displaying “Welcome to Your Computer,” accompanied by a physical Post-It note that reads “Password: 12345.”
Interactive stations let guests test how long it takes hackers to guess "Summer2020!" and how long it takes humans to admit they still use it. One station features a countdown timer that starts at zero as soon as the password is entered, with a voiceover mocking the user's choice of password. Another station offers a humorous quiz where visitors are asked to identify which of their passwords would be most likely to get them hacked, based on their own answers.
A children’s wing explains two-factor authentication using puppets named Token and Regret. Token represents the authenticator app that sends you a code, while Regret is a puppet with a sad face who warns about the dangers of weak passwords. Visitors can interact with these characters by solving puzzles or completing tasks to earn digital badges.
Cybersecurity sponsors provided funding but requested their logo not appear near the chapter on plain-text storage. Museum ethics board approved anyway, citing "educational value and mild public shaming." Voss explained, “We couldn’t resist putting it in, even if they asked us not to.” The exhibit’s final section features a wall of screens displaying real-life data breaches and the consequences for users who relied on easy-to-guess passwords.
Gift shop items include a notebook that burns itself after three entries and a mug reading I Heart KeePass, Which I Will Install Tomorrow. These products are designed to both entertain and nudge visitors toward better password habits. Voss noted with a wry smile, “We’re not here to shame people, but we do hope they’ll take away something useful.”
Attendance exceeded projections. Voss attributed interest to "collective trauma and free Wi-Fi." He added, “People are coming in droves, maybe because everyone knows that their password is about to be the next big data breach headline.” The exhibit runs through January or until everyone switches to passkeys, whichever fantasy occurs first.
As visitors exit, they’re greeted by a final station where they can sign up for a free passkey service. A volunteer at the desk offers a friendly reminder: “You only have to do this once, and it’s way more secure than any password you’ve ever used.”
