Patent ID: 7987496

Claim:
In a computing environment, a method for the secure application of a usage policy to content based on content classification rules describing correlations associating a system state with a usage policy, wherein the application of the usage policy results in a content protected to the usage policy, the method comprising: monitoring a pre-defined policy application point to detect the transfer of content; accessing the content being transferred through the pre-defined policy application point; determining, based on the content, the content classification rules and the system state, that the content should be protected, wherein the content classification rules are maintained in a repository at a known location so that any appropriate enforcement mechanism can access the policy rule; identifying, based on the content, the content classification rules and the system state, a usage policy to apply to the content, wherein the usage policy is maintained at the repository so that any appropriate enforcement mechanism can access the policy rule; and applying the usage policy to the content, wherein the application of the usage policy results in a functional usage policy for the content.