POWER shovels and a bulldozer destroyed a huge mound of two million illegally copied CDs and DVDs outside Algeria’s Culture Ministry as part of a government pledge to crack down on long-rampant digital piracy. Musicians and politicians looked on as the machines crushed the goods at Tuesday’s event.

Among them was Rai folk music singer Amine Titi, who lamented the ready availability of pirated music online and on disc. The sale of pirated video games, computer software, films and music was long overlooked by Algerian authorities. Store owner Daoud Ben Mahdi welcomed the new government effort, saying it’s a struggle to stay afloat selling legal movies and music.

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2016