Er, yes it does, just not the executable permission:
[jonathan@orpheus html]$ GET http://localhost/index.php
<html>
<body>Test</body></html>
[jonathan@orpheus html]$ chmod 600 index.php
[jonathan@orpheus html]$ GET http://localhost/index.php
<br />
<b>Warning</b>: Unknown(/var/www/html/index.php): failed to open stre
+am: Permission denied in <b>Unknown</b> on line <b>0</b><br />
<br />
<b>Warning</b>: (null)(): Failed opening '/var/www/html/index.php' fo
+r inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php/:/usr/share/pear/') in <b>U
+nknown</b> on line <b>0</b><br />
Eugh.
/J\ | 