diff --git a/browserid/static/dialog/controllers/dialog_controller.js b/browserid/static/dialog/controllers/dialog_controller.js
index 0721bd9e3e597c27055b5c9008e0848a3e745620..0fc31a0ca95020c6126946f8ee2fa39cf6f171df 100644
--- a/browserid/static/dialog/controllers/dialog_controller.js
+++ b/browserid/static/dialog/controllers/dialog_controller.js
@@ -128,10 +128,6 @@ PageController.extend("Dialog", {}, {
     },
 
     doStart: function() {
-      // check to see if there's any pubkeys stored in the browser
-      var haveIDs = _.keys(getEmails()).length > 0;
-      var self = this;
-
       // we should always check to see whether we're authenticated
       // at dialog start. issue #74.
       //
diff --git a/browserid/static/js/browserid.js b/browserid/static/js/browserid.js
index d32eda221ed4bc4b7a746c1ccd12a1db0e18bcb3..a8f11e5bbcf68e9d10ab19c4a5898b517fd5822a 100644
--- a/browserid/static/js/browserid.js
+++ b/browserid/static/js/browserid.js
@@ -43,11 +43,10 @@ var csrf = undefined;
 // execute a function with a csrf token, fetching it if required
 function withCSRF(cb) {
   if (csrf === undefined) {
-    $.get("/wsapi/csrf", function(result) {
-      alert(result);
-      csrf = result.body;
+    $.get("/wsapi/csrf", {}, function(result) {
+      csrf = result;
       cb();
-    });
+    }, 'html');
   } else {
     setTimeout(cb, 0);
   }