diff --git a/crates/audit/README.md b/crates/audit/README.md
index 37771a535..ce2c47915 100644
--- a/crates/audit/README.md
+++ b/crates/audit/README.md
@@ -33,7 +33,12 @@ Limits, by design and documented rather than hidden:
   less than 40% of its words (a sliver of a long value) is not flagged.
 
 It fails closed: an undecodable content stream, malformed `/Annots`, form XObjects nested deeper
-than 32 or in a cycle, or a walk past the operator bound is an error, never "no findings".
+than 32 or in a cycle, a walk past the operator bound, more than 50 million cover-against-line
+comparisons on a page, or more than 64 MiB of covered text in the report is an error, never "no
+findings".
+
+A document whose permissions withhold copying (Table 22, bit 5) still gets every finding, with
+an empty `covered_text`: the audit hands out no text that copying would refuse.
 
 Surfaces: the `doc_audit_redactions` automation tool and `pdfcraft-cli audit`. Both report each
 rectangle in points from the top-left of the page as displayed (y down, after `/Rotate`), like
diff --git a/crates/audit/src/lib.rs b/crates/audit/src/lib.rs
index d82715957..4f1877ef6 100644
--- a/crates/audit/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/audit/src/lib.rs
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ pub struct AuditFinding {
     /// `rect[0] <= rect[2]` and `rect[1] <= rect[3]`.
     pub rect: [f64; 4],
     /// The extractable text the cover hides, lines joined with single spaces and trimmed.
-    /// Possibly empty when nothing decodable remains under the cover.
+    /// Empty when the document's permissions withhold copying (see [`audit_redactions`]).
     pub covered_text: String,
 }
 
@@ -101,6 +101,10 @@ const COVER_CONTRAST: f64 = 3.0;
 /// Audit every page for faux redactions and unapplied redaction marks. Fails closed: any
 /// content that cannot be decoded, or that needs more work or report than the audit's bounds, is
 /// returned as an error, never as an empty finding list.
+///
+/// When the document's permissions withhold copying (ISO 32000-2 Table 22, bit 5), findings are
+/// still reported but their `covered_text` is empty: the audit hands out no text that copying
+/// would refuse.
 pub fn audit_redactions(doc: &Document) -> Result<Vec<AuditFinding>, AuditError> {
     audit(doc, Limits::DEFAULT)
 }
@@ -152,6 +156,7 @@ impl Budget {
 }
 
 fn audit(doc: &Document, limits: Limits) -> Result<Vec<AuditFinding>, AuditError> {
+    let copying = doc.permissions().is_none_or(|p| p.copy());
     let mut budget = Budget { limits, comparisons: 0, covered_text: 0 };
     let mut out = Vec::new();
     for (n, page) in pdfcraft_model::pages(doc).iter().enumerate() {
@@ -161,7 +166,8 @@ fn audit(doc: &Document, limits: Limits) -> Result<Vec<AuditFinding>, AuditError
         for r in cover::filled_rects(doc, &page.dict)? {
             let covered = budget.hidden_text(&lines, |line| is_cover(&r, line))?;
             if !covered.trim().is_empty() {
-                out.push(AuditFinding { page: n, kind: FindingKind::CoveredText, rect: r.rect, covered_text: covered });
+                let covered_text = if copying { covered } else { String::new() };
+                out.push(AuditFinding { page: n, kind: FindingKind::CoveredText, rect: r.rect, covered_text });
             }
         }
         // 2. Annotation covers over extractable text.
@@ -175,7 +181,8 @@ fn audit(doc: &Document, limits: Limits) -> Result<Vec<AuditFinding>, AuditError
                     AnnotationCover::Redact(rect) => (FindingKind::UnappliedMark, rect),
                     AnnotationCover::Square { rect, .. } => (FindingKind::CoveredText, rect),
                 };
-                out.push(AuditFinding { page: n, kind, rect, covered_text: covered });
+                let covered_text = if copying { covered } else { String::new() };
+                out.push(AuditFinding { page: n, kind, rect, covered_text });
             }
         }
     }
diff --git a/crates/audit/src/tests.rs b/crates/audit/src/tests.rs
index ed809bc63..de501d01a 100644
--- a/crates/audit/src/tests.rs
+++ b/crates/audit/src/tests.rs
@@ -675,3 +675,29 @@ fn cover_and_line_comparisons_are_bounded() {
     let limits = crate::Limits { comparisons: 400, covered_text: usize::MAX };
     assert!(crate::audit(&doc, limits).expect("within the budget").is_empty());
 }
+
+/// Covered text is document text: a document whose permissions withhold copying reports where
+/// its covers are but not what they hide, unless it was opened with the owner password.
+#[test]
+fn copy_restricted_documents_withhold_covered_text() {
+    let content = b"BT /F1 24 Tf 100 700 Td (SECRET DATA 123) Tj ET\n0 g\n100 688 220 32 re f\n";
+    let mut doc = open(one_page(content, ""));
+    doc.set_encryption(&pdfcraft_cos::NewEncryption {
+        algorithm: pdfcraft_cos::Algorithm::Aes256,
+        user_password: "",
+        owner_password: "owner",
+        permissions: -1 ^ 0b1_0000,
+        encrypt_metadata: true,
+        seed: [7; 32],
+    })
+    .expect("encrypt");
+    let bytes = Arc::new(pdfcraft_cos::write_full(&doc, &Default::default()).expect("save"));
+    let user = Document::open_with_password(bytes.clone(), None).expect("open");
+    let findings = audit_redactions(&user).expect("audit must run");
+    assert_eq!(findings.len(), 1, "the cover is still reported: {findings:?}");
+    assert_eq!(findings[0].covered_text, "");
+    let owner = Document::open_with_password(bytes, Some("owner")).expect("open");
+    let findings = audit_redactions(&owner).expect("audit must run");
+    assert_eq!(findings.len(), 1, "{findings:?}");
+    assert_eq!(findings[0].covered_text, "SECRET DATA 123");
+}