US Patent 7987496 Automatic application of information protection policies

The secure application of content protection policies to content. The secure application of content protection polices is accomplished by having an enforcement mechanism monitor policy application points to detect the transfer of content. The enforcement mechanism accesses the content and a determination is made to protect the content. A usage policy is then identified by the enforcement mechanism to apply to the content and the usage policy is then applied to the content, resulting in a usage policy for the content.