diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/globals.py b/lib/spack/spack/globals.py
index 6ff1a693042..40bb50f219d 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/globals.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/globals.py
@@ -70,7 +70,6 @@
 
 # Curl tool for fetching files.
 curl = which("curl", required=True)
-curl.add_default_arg("-k") # TODO: remove me in favor of spack -k`
 
 # Whether to build in tmp space or directly in the stage_path.
 # If this is true, then spack will make stage directories in