diff --git a/broker/client/reader.go b/broker/client/reader.go
index b2044f56..ea912d8d 100644
--- a/broker/client/reader.go
+++ b/broker/client/reader.go
@@ -175,7 +175,7 @@ func (r *Reader) Read(p []byte) (n int, err error) {
 
 	// If the frame preceding EOF provided a fragment URL, open it directly.
 	if !r.Request.MetadataOnly && r.Response.Status == pb.Status_OK && r.Response.FragmentUrl != "" {
-		if SkipSignedURLs {
+		if SkipSignedURLs > 0 {
 			fragURL := r.Response.Fragment.BackingStore.URL()
 			if fragURL.Scheme != "gs" {
 				return 0, fmt.Errorf("SkipSignedURL unsupported scheme: %s", fragURL.Scheme)
@@ -483,7 +483,7 @@ var (
 // stores_test.go, which is in broker/fragment, imports broker/client so we cannot import broker/fragment here
 // to avoid a cycle. Instead we will repeat a subset of store_gcs.go.
 
-var SkipSignedURLs = false
+var SkipSignedURLs = uint32(0)
 var gcs = &gcsBackend{}
 
 type gcsBackend struct {
diff --git a/mainboilerplate/runconsumer/run_consumer.go b/mainboilerplate/runconsumer/run_consumer.go
index 10da412c..c53f2e1a 100644
--- a/mainboilerplate/runconsumer/run_consumer.go
+++ b/mainboilerplate/runconsumer/run_consumer.go
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ type BaseConfig struct {
 		Limit          uint32        `long:"limit" env:"LIMIT" default:"32" description:"Maximum number of Shards this consumer process will allocate"`
 		MaxHotStandbys uint32        `long:"max-hot-standbys" env:"MAX_HOT_STANDBYS" default:"3" description:"Maximum effective hot standbys of any one shard, which upper-bounds its stated hot-standbys."`
 		WatchDelay     time.Duration `long:"watch-delay" env:"WATCH_DELAY" default:"30ms" description:"Delay applied to the application of watched Etcd events. Larger values amortize the processing of fast-changing Etcd keys."`
-		SkipSignedURLs bool          `long:"skip-signed-urls" env:"SKIP_SIGNED_URLS" description:"When a signed URL is received, use fragment info instead to retrieve data with auth header. This is useful when clients do not wish/require the signing."`
+		SkipSignedURLs uint32        `long:"skip-signed-urls" env:"SKIP_SIGNED_URLS" default:"1" description:"When a signed URL is received, use fragment info instead to retrieve data with auth header. This is useful when clients do not wish/require the signing."`
 	} `group:"Consumer" namespace:"consumer" env-namespace:"CONSUMER"`
 
 	Broker struct {