diff --git a/lib/Canto/Track/LoadUtil.pm b/lib/Canto/Track/LoadUtil.pm
index 91250cc7a..de2fc9c44 100644
--- a/lib/Canto/Track/LoadUtil.pm
+++ b/lib/Canto/Track/LoadUtil.pm
@@ -690,9 +690,8 @@ sub get_person
   my $self = shift;
   my $name = shift;
   my $email_address = shift;
-  my $role_cvterm = shift;
-  my $password = shift;
   my $orcid = shift;
+  my $role_cvterm = shift;
 
   my $schema = $self->schema();
 
@@ -702,22 +701,14 @@ sub get_person
   if (!defined $name || length $name == 0) {
     die "name not set for $email_address\n";
   }
-  if (!defined $password) {
-    die "no password passed to get_person()\n";
-  }
-  if (!$password) {
-    die "empty password passed to get_person()\n";
-  }
   if (!$role_cvterm) {
     die "no role passed to get_person()\n";
   }
 
-  my $hashed_password = sha1_base64($password);
-
   my %args = (
     name => $name,
     email_address => $email_address,
-    password => $hashed_password,
+    password => '',
     role => $role_cvterm,
   );
 
diff --git a/script/canto_add.pl b/script/canto_add.pl
index 3966e24a7..28786eb0b 100755
--- a/script/canto_add.pl
+++ b/script/canto_add.pl
@@ -232,7 +232,7 @@ sub usage
 
     my $role = $load_util->find_cvterm(cv_name => 'Canto user types',
                                        name => $role_name);
-    $load_util->get_person($name, $email_address, $orcid, '', $role);
+    $load_util->get_person($name, $email_address, $orcid, $role);
   }
 
   if ($add_session) {