diff --git a/sites/all/modules/contrib/profileplus/profileplus.module b/sites/all/modules/contrib/profileplus/profileplus.module
index 842aebc..14c27c9 100644
--- a/sites/all/modules/contrib/profileplus/profileplus.module
+++ b/sites/all/modules/contrib/profileplus/profileplus.module
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ function profile_search($op = 'search', $keys = null) {
           $match = array();
           while ($i > 0) {
             $j = $i - 1;
-            if (user_access('administer users')) {
+            if (variable_get('profileplus_passthrough_field_privacy', FALSE) || user_access('administer users')) {
             // administrators don't have restrictions
               $sql = "FROM {users} u INNER JOIN {profile_values} pv ON u.uid = pv.uid INNER JOIN {profile_fields} pf ON pv.fid = pf.fid WHERE pv.value LIKE '%%%s%%' OR u.name LIKE '%%%s%%'";
               $result = db_query('SELECT DISTINCT u.* '. $sql, $keywords[$j], $keywords[$j]);
@@ -135,3 +135,20 @@ function profile_search($op = 'search', $keys = null) {
       } // end search case
   }
 }
+
+/* implementation of hook_form_alter */
+function profileplus_form_search_admin_settings_alter($form, &$form_state) {
+  $form['profileplus'] = array(
+    '#type' => 'fieldset',
+    '#title' => t('Profileplus'),
+    '#weight' => 0
+  );
+
+  $form['profileplus']['profileplus_passthrough_field_privacy'] = array(
+    '#type' => 'checkbox',
+    '#title' => t('Pass-through field privacy'),
+    '#description' => t('If selected, users with "search user profiles" permissions will be able to search in all fields without respecting fields\' privacy definition.'),
+    '#default_value' =>  variable_get('profileplus_passthrough_field_privacy', '')
+  );
+}
+