diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index e4b934d..d2465f0 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -57,6 +57,8 @@ users:
       - regex: false
         allow: false
         path: /some/file
+      - path: /public/access/
+        modify: true
 ```
 
 There are more ways to customize how you run WebDAV through flags and environment variables. Please run `webdav --help` for more information on that.
diff --git a/cmd/config.go b/cmd/config.go
index 710248d..8fcd459 100644
--- a/cmd/config.go
+++ b/cmd/config.go
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ import (
 	"golang.org/x/net/webdav"
 )
 
-func parseRules(raw []interface{}) []*lib.Rule {
+func parseRules(raw []interface{}, defaultModify bool) []*lib.Rule {
 	rules := []*lib.Rule{}
 
 	for _, v := range raw {
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ func parseRules(raw []interface{}) []*lib.Rule {
 			rule := &lib.Rule{
 				Regex: false,
 				Allow: false,
+				Modify: defaultModify,
 				Path:  "",
 			}
 
@@ -33,6 +34,13 @@ func parseRules(raw []interface{}) []*lib.Rule {
 				rule.Allow = allow
 			}
 
+			if modify, ok := r["modify"].(bool); ok {
+				rule.Modify = modify
+				if modify {
+					rule.Allow = true
+				}
+			}
+
 			path, ok := r["path"].(string)
 			if !ok {
 				continue
@@ -110,7 +118,7 @@ func parseUsers(raw []interface{}, c *lib.Config) {
 			}
 
 			if rules, ok := u["rules"].([]interface{}); ok {
-				user.Rules = parseRules(rules)
+				user.Rules = append(c.User.Rules, parseRules(rules, user.Modify)...)
 			}
 
 			user.Handler = &webdav.Handler{
@@ -186,7 +194,7 @@ func readConfig(flags *pflag.FlagSet) *lib.Config {
 
 	rawRules := v.Get("rules")
 	if rules, ok := rawRules.([]interface{}); ok {
-		cfg.User.Rules = parseRules(rules)
+		cfg.User.Rules = parseRules(rules, cfg.User.Modify)
 	}
 
 	rawUsers := v.Get("users")
diff --git a/lib/user.go b/lib/user.go
index 6636322..8b853a2 100755
--- a/lib/user.go
+++ b/lib/user.go
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import (
 type Rule struct {
 	Regex  bool
 	Allow  bool
+	Modify bool
 	Path   string
 	Regexp *regexp.Regexp
 }
@@ -26,23 +27,24 @@ type User struct {
 }
 
 // Allowed checks if the user has permission to access a directory/file
-func (u User) Allowed(url string) bool {
+func (u User) Allowed(url string, noModification bool) bool {
 	var rule *Rule
 	i := len(u.Rules) - 1
 
 	for i >= 0 {
 		rule = u.Rules[i]
 
+		isAllowed := rule.Allow && (noModification || rule.Modify)
 		if rule.Regex {
 			if rule.Regexp.MatchString(url) {
-				return rule.Allow
+				return isAllowed
 			}
 		} else if strings.HasPrefix(url, rule.Path) {
-			return rule.Allow
+			return isAllowed
 		}
 
 		i--
 	}
 
-	return true
+	return noModification || u.Modify
 }
diff --git a/lib/webdav.go b/lib/webdav.go
index e8a864f..5b47624 100755
--- a/lib/webdav.go
+++ b/lib/webdav.go
@@ -102,7 +102,9 @@ func (c *Config) ServeHTTP(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 	}
 
 	// Checks for user permissions relatively to this PATH.
-	if !u.Allowed(r.URL.Path) {
+	noModification := r.Method == "GET" || r.Method == "HEAD" ||
+		r.Method == "OPTIONS" || r.Method == "PROPFIND"
+	if !u.Allowed(r.URL.Path, noModification) {
 		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusForbidden)
 		return
 	}
@@ -111,15 +113,6 @@ func (c *Config) ServeHTTP(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 		w = newResponseWriterNoBody(w)
 	}
 
-	// If this request modified the files and the user doesn't have permission
-	// to do so, return forbidden.
-	if (r.Method == "PUT" || r.Method == "POST" || r.Method == "MKCOL" ||
-		r.Method == "DELETE" || r.Method == "COPY" || r.Method == "MOVE") &&
-		!u.Modify {
-		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusForbidden)
-		return
-	}
-
 	// Excerpt from RFC4918, section 9.4:
 	//
 	// 		GET, when applied to a collection, may return the contents of an