Cannabis Museum Exhibit Examines Online Drug Purchases

Cannabis Museum Exhibit Examines Online Drug Purchases

A new exhibit is opening at Whakamana: The Cannabis Museum of Aotearoa.

'Bitcoin & the Silk Road' will examine the rise in popularity of crypto-currencies and anonymous marketplaces.

These new encryption and anonymity technologies have been used to trade cannabis online. The exhibit demystifies this phenomenon through a series of informational displays, educational videos and interactive activities.

At the museum visitors will learn about the historic connections between state surveillance and the Drug War, and how inventive cannabis users have adapted cutting-edge technology to circumvent this surveillance.

Museum patrons are introduced to the world of encrypted messaging, Bitcoin wallets, Tor browsers, Tails operating systems and Virtual Private Networks, and shown how these technologies led to the development of anonymous drug marketplaces hosted on the so called DarkNet.

The Silk Road was the most well known DarkNet market using Bitcoin, but It was shut down by the FBI in 2013. However, a number of alternative markets continue to operate, and can be viewed for information purposes only at an interactive computer terminal in the heart of the exhibit.

Additionally, visitors will be treated to a display of the future of anonymous delivery of cannabis 'tinnies' by drone, and have the opportunity to purchase Bitcoin.

The exhibit opening party starts at midday on Sunday, July 12 and is open to the public at 66 David St, Caversham, Dunedin.

ENDS

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