Bombaywalla, I'm not sure I follow that. Static electrical charges and magnetization are two different things.Al, it true that these are 2 different effects but they are interactive & influence each other. Static electric charge does create an electric field around it & this electric field can be/is influenced by magnetic materials used inside the transport box. Over time some of the magnetizm is transfered over to the CD disk (just like when you keep a ferro-magnetic material that is not originally a magnet in contact with a magnet over a longish period of time that ferro-magnetic material becomes a weak magnet).
(I'm sure that you'll agree that static charge does create an electric field around it).
And why would exposure to light cause either one?the laser light is highly focused beam of photons impinging on the CD with very high intensity. Over time this will transfer electrons (or bleach electrons) to mildly charge the underside of the disk one way or the other. Then we are back to the above argument about statically charged CD disk being influenced by the magnets inside the transport box....
There is yet two other items that will mildly magnetize the CD disk that I did not touch upon earlier - (1) the inks that are used to print the CD label contain ferro-electric substances like iron-oxide (FeO2) & (2) the impurities in the Aluminum used to create the dye. You can read more on the Acoustic Revive website as to what A-R think about this topic. Here is that website:
http://www.acoustic-revive.com/english/rd3/rd3_01.html