diff --git a/scheme/lib/ls.scm b/scheme/lib/ls.scm
index cabf038..cf1b6c0 100644
--- a/scheme/lib/ls.scm
+++ b/scheme/lib/ls.scm
@@ -75,6 +75,13 @@
 ;              a FILE is a pair whose car is a file-name and whose cdr is 
 ;                either its file-info-object or #f (if not needed)
 ;              a INFO is a file-info-object
+
+  ;; This is actually a hack for the benefits of systems using AFS,
+  ;; mainly to enable anonymous-upload directories: We don't list
+  ;; a directory unless the Unix permissions would allow us to.
+  (if (not (file-readable? directory))
+      (errno-error errno/perm directory-files directory))
+
   (let* ((directory (file-name-as-directory directory))
 	 (substantial-directory (string-append directory "."))
 	 (file-names (directory-files substantial-directory all?)))