diff --git a/bin/swift b/bin/swift
index 772c82e2..6850de8a 100755
--- a/bin/swift
+++ b/bin/swift
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ from time import sleep, time
 from traceback import format_exception
 from urllib import quote, unquote
 
-from swiftclient import Connection, ClientException, HTTPException
+from swiftclient import Connection, ClientException, HTTPException, utils
 
 
 def get_conn(options):
@@ -1155,11 +1155,16 @@ Example:
                       help='Specify a CA bundle file to use in verifying a '
                       'TLS (https) server certificate. '
                       'Defaults to env[OS_CACERT]')
+    default_val = utils.config_true_value(
+                      environ.get('SWIFTCLIENT_INSECURE'))
     parser.add_option('--insecure',
-                      action="store_true", dest="insecure", default=False,
+                      action="store_true", dest="insecure",
+                      default=default_val,
                       help='Allow swiftclient to access insecure keystone '
                            'server. The keystone\'s certificate will not '
-                           'be verified.')
+                           'be verified. '
+                           'Defaults to env[SWIFTCLIENT_INSECURE] '
+                           '(set to \'true\' to enable).')
     parser.disable_interspersed_args()
     (options, args) = parse_args(parser, argv[1:], enforce_requires=False)
     parser.enable_interspersed_args()
diff --git a/swiftclient/utils.py b/swiftclient/utils.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f309d29d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/swiftclient/utils.py
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+# Copyright (c) 2010-2012 OpenStack, LLC.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or
+# implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+"""Miscellaneous utility functions for use with Swift."""
+
+TRUE_VALUES = set(('true', '1', 'yes', 'on', 't', 'y'))
+
+
+def config_true_value(value):
+    """
+    Returns True if the value is either True or a string in TRUE_VALUES.
+    Returns False otherwise.
+    This function come from swift.common.utils.config_true_value()
+    """
+    return value is True or \
+        (isinstance(value, basestring) and value.lower() in TRUE_VALUES)
diff --git a/tests/test_swiftclient.py b/tests/test_swiftclient.py
index 600efb06..8f147f88 100644
--- a/tests/test_swiftclient.py
+++ b/tests/test_swiftclient.py
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ from urlparse import urlparse
 from utils import fake_http_connect, fake_get_keystoneclient_2_0
 
 from swiftclient import client as c
+from swiftclient import utils as u
 
 
 class TestClientException(testtools.TestCase):
@@ -93,6 +94,25 @@ class TestJsonImport(testtools.TestCase):
             self.assertEquals(loads, c.json_loads)
 
 
+class TestConfigTrueValue(testtools.TestCase):
+
+    def test_TRUE_VALUES(self):
+        for v in u.TRUE_VALUES:
+            self.assertEquals(v, v.lower())
+
+    def test_config_true_value(self):
+        orig_trues = u.TRUE_VALUES
+        try:
+            u.TRUE_VALUES = 'hello world'.split()
+            for val in 'hello world HELLO WORLD'.split():
+                self.assertTrue(u.config_true_value(val) is True)
+            self.assertTrue(u.config_true_value(True) is True)
+            self.assertTrue(u.config_true_value('foo') is False)
+            self.assertTrue(u.config_true_value(False) is False)
+        finally:
+            u.TRUE_VALUES = orig_trues
+
+
 class MockHttpTest(testtools.TestCase):
 
     def setUp(self):