diff --git a/go/analysis/internal/checker/checker.go b/go/analysis/internal/checker/checker.go
index a26f801b58..5ccfb16374 100644
--- a/go/analysis/internal/checker/checker.go
+++ b/go/analysis/internal/checker/checker.go
@@ -800,8 +800,13 @@ func exportedFrom(obj types.Object, pkg *types.Package) bool {
 		return obj.Exported() && obj.Pkg() == pkg ||
 			obj.Type().(*types.Signature).Recv() != nil
 	case *types.Var:
-		return obj.Exported() && obj.Pkg() == pkg ||
-			obj.IsField()
+		if obj.IsField() {
+			return true
+		}
+		// we can't filter more aggressively than this because we need
+		// to consider function parameters exported, but have no way
+		// of telling apart function parameters from local variables.
+		return obj.Pkg() == pkg
 	case *types.TypeName, *types.Const:
 		return true
 	}