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Self-Destructing DVD's Coming Soon
BrianH writes "Looks like a close cousin of everybody's favorite self-destructing video format is making a comeback. Four years after Circuit City and its Hollywood backers pulled the plug on the self-expiring DVD concept, FlexPlay Technologies has introduced the EZ-D...a 48-hour self-expiring DVD disk. The difference? This time around you don't need a special player, and "time extensions" are no longer an option. It looks like Buena Vista has already signed on to the format, so Disney, Mirimax, and all of their other companies should be using this soon. As if that wasn't bad enough, it looks like this works for music and software disks too!" Here's an older story on these technologies.
Yes, the discs have timers on them. They build little electronic devices actually into the second layer that pull shutters over the disk at the 48-hour mark. The adventage to this method is that it allows the manufacturer to set the expiry period at the time of production to allow for different situations, to extend the period for dumbfuck Americans like yourself that have to watch a movie at 1/4 speed with subtitles to be able to understand it.
Security through promiscuity is no better than security through obscurity.