This disc will self-destruct in 48 hours.

[Major Variola (ret)]

[Of course computer tinkerers can't prevent it from rusting, but
chemical tinkerers will have fun.
Or are inert gasses to be banned under DMCA?  Hmmm, a hermetic
case-mod..]

That is the warning The Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS - news) will issue
this August when it begins to "rent" DVDs that after two days become
unplayable and do not have to be returned.

Disney home video unit Buena Vista Home Entertainment will launch a
pilot movie "rental" program in August that uses the self-destruction
technology, the company said on Friday.

The discs stop working when a process similar to rusting makes them
unreadable. The discs start off red, but when they are taken out of the
package, exposure to oxygen turns the coating black and makes it
impenetrable by a DVD laser.

Buena Vista hopes the technology will let it crack a wider rental
market, since it can sell the DVDs in stores or almost anywhere without
setting up a system to get the discs back.

The discs work perfectly for the two-day viewing window, said Flexplay
Technologies, Inc., the private company which developed the technology
using material from General Electric Co.(NYSE:GE - news)

The technology cannot be hacked by programmers who would want to view
the disc longer because the mechanism which closes the viewing window is
chemical and has nothing to do with computer technology.

However, the disc can be copied within 48 hours, since it works like any
other DVD during that window.

Buena Vista did not disclose pricing plans but said the discs, dubbed
EZ-D, would be available in August in select markets with recent
releases including "The Recruit," "The Hot Chick," and "Signs."

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030516/tc_nm/media_disney_dvds_dc_1