diff --git a/actions/public.php b/actions/public.php
index b66a3f0f13..f99215dadb 100644
--- a/actions/public.php
+++ b/actions/public.php
@@ -63,7 +63,9 @@ class PublicAction extends StreamAction {
 
 		# XXX: sub-optimal
 
-		$notice->is_local = 1;
+		if (common_config('public', 'localonly')) {
+			$notice->is_local = 1;
+		}
 
 		$notice->orderBy('created DESC, notice.id DESC');
 
diff --git a/actions/publicrss.php b/actions/publicrss.php
index 185a4ff785..98a1908abf 100644
--- a/actions/publicrss.php
+++ b/actions/publicrss.php
@@ -38,7 +38,9 @@ class PublicrssAction extends Rss10Action {
 
 		# XXX: bad performance
 
-		$notice->is_local = 1;
+		if (common_config('public', 'localonly')) {
+			$notice->is_local = 1;
+		}
 
 		$notice->orderBy('created DESC, notice.id DESC');
 
diff --git a/actions/twitapistatuses.php b/actions/twitapistatuses.php
index 2f95d90c9d..3041240dde 100644
--- a/actions/twitapistatuses.php
+++ b/actions/twitapistatuses.php
@@ -61,7 +61,10 @@ class TwitapistatusesAction extends TwitterapiAction {
 
 		# XXX: sub-optimal performance
 
-		$notice->is_local = 1;
+		if (common_config('public', 'localonly')) {
+			$notice->is_local = 1;
+		}
+
 		$notice->orderBy('created DESC, notice.id DESC');
 		$notice->limit($MAX_PUBSTATUSES);
 		$cnt = $notice->find();
diff --git a/lib/common.php b/lib/common.php
index 32ef6ea7bd..6db9f91fe4 100644
--- a/lib/common.php
+++ b/lib/common.php
@@ -77,6 +77,8 @@ $config =
 		array('blacklist' => array()),
 		'avatar' =>
 		array('server' => NULL),
+		'public' =>
+		array('localonly' => true),
 		'theme' =>
 		array('server' => NULL),
 		'xmpp' =>