/bin/ls is ALWAYS showing hidden files. it should not

No matter how i try to make sure /bin/ls has not been aliased, executing any ls command always shows the hidden files. How can I change this?

As the # prompt shows this is being run as root.

# type ls
ls is /bin/ls
# ls ~
.CFUserTextEncoding
.mysql_history
Downloads
.bash_history
...

fd0 is correct. I was running as root. Though I have to say that I'm completely baffled as to why this should be the case. Well, whatever, nobody cares about my bafflement. Sorry for the wasted bandwidth.

i can't figure out how to give fd0 credit.