You can use Information Rights Management (IRM) with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 sites to help control and protect files that are downloaded from lists or libraries.

Information Rights Management (IRM) enables you to limit the actions that users can take on files that have been downloaded from SharePoint lists or libraries. IRM encrypts the downloaded files and limits the set of users and programs that are allowed to decrypt these files. IRM can also limit the rights of the users who are allowed to read files so that they cannot take actions such as print copies of the files or copy text from them.

You can use IRM on lists or libraries to limit the dissemination of sensitive content. For example, if you are creating a document library to share information about upcoming products with selected marketing representatives, you can use IRM to prevent these individuals from sharing this content with other employees in the company.

On an Office SharePoint Server 2007 site, you apply IRM to an entire list or library, rather than to individual files. This makes it easier to ensure a consistent level of protection for an entire set of documents or files. IRM can thus help your organisation to enforce corporate policies that govern the control and dissemination of confidential or proprietary information.

How IRM can help protect content

IRM helps to protect restricted content in the following ways:

• Helps to prevent an authorised viewer from copying, modifying, printing, faxing, or copying and pasting the content for unauthorised use
• Helps to prevent an authorised viewer from copying the content by using the Print Screen feature in Microsoft Windows
• Helps to prevent an unauthorised viewer from viewing the content if it is sent in e-mail after it is downloaded from the server
• Restricts access to content to a specified period of time, after which users must confirm their credentials and download the content again
• Helps to enforce corporate policies that govern the use and dissemination of content within your organisation.