diff --git a/implementations/validator/iiif_validator/tests/baseurl_redirect.py b/implementations/validator/iiif_validator/tests/baseurl_redirect.py
index b99f1a2..298d0b9 100644
--- a/implementations/validator/iiif_validator/tests/baseurl_redirect.py
+++ b/implementations/validator/iiif_validator/tests/baseurl_redirect.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 from .test import BaseTest, ValidatorError
+import ssl
 try:
     # python3
     from urllib.request import Request, urlopen, HTTPError
@@ -19,11 +20,12 @@ def run(self, result):
         url = url.replace('/info.json', '')
         try:
             r = Request(url)
-            wh = urlopen(r)
-            img = wh.read()   
+            context = ssl._create_unverified_context()
+            wh = urlopen(r, context=context)
+            img = wh.read()
             wh.close()
         except HTTPError as e:
-            wh = e        
+            wh = e
 
         u = wh.geturl()
         if u == url:
@@ -32,4 +34,4 @@ def run(self, result):
         else:
             # we must have redirected if our url is not what was requested
             result.tests.append('redirect')
-            return result
\ No newline at end of file
+            return result
diff --git a/implementations/validator/iiif_validator/tests/format_conneg.py b/implementations/validator/iiif_validator/tests/format_conneg.py
index ac6a4ff..bb0c1da 100644
--- a/implementations/validator/iiif_validator/tests/format_conneg.py
+++ b/implementations/validator/iiif_validator/tests/format_conneg.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 from .test import BaseTest
+import ssl
 try:
     # python3
     from urllib.request import Request, urlopen, HTTPError
@@ -18,8 +19,9 @@ def run(self, result):
         hdrs = {'Accept': 'image/png;q=1.0'}
         try:
             r = Request(url, headers=hdrs)
-            wh = urlopen(r)
-            img = wh.read()   
+            context = ssl._create_unverified_context()
+            wh = urlopen(r, context=context)
+            img = wh.read()
             wh.close()
         except HTTPError as e:
             wh = e
@@ -32,4 +34,4 @@ def run(self, result):
         result.last_status = wh.code
         result.urls.append(url)
         self.validationInfo.check('format', ct, 'image/png', result)
-        return result
\ No newline at end of file
+        return result
diff --git a/implementations/validator/iiif_validator/tests/format_jp2.py b/implementations/validator/iiif_validator/tests/format_jp2.py
index c53b5e2..edeb224 100644
--- a/implementations/validator/iiif_validator/tests/format_jp2.py
+++ b/implementations/validator/iiif_validator/tests/format_jp2.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 from .test import BaseTest, ValidatorError
-import magic, urllib
+import magic, urllib, ssl
 
 class Test_Format_Jp2(BaseTest):
     label = 'JPEG2000 format'
@@ -13,7 +13,8 @@ def run(self, result):
         params = {'format': 'jp2'}
         url = result.make_url(params)
         # Need as plain string for magic
-        wh = urllib.urlopen(url)
+        context = ssl._create_unverified_context()
+        wh = urllib.urlopen(url, context=context)
         img = wh.read()
         wh.close()
 
@@ -24,4 +25,4 @@ def run(self, result):
                 raise ValidatorError('format', info, 'JPEG 2000', result)
             else:
                 result.tests.append('format')
-                return result
\ No newline at end of file
+                return result
diff --git a/implementations/validator/iiif_validator/tests/format_pdf.py b/implementations/validator/iiif_validator/tests/format_pdf.py
index 18187b2..e5881d1 100644
--- a/implementations/validator/iiif_validator/tests/format_pdf.py
+++ b/implementations/validator/iiif_validator/tests/format_pdf.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 from .test import BaseTest, ValidatorError
-import magic, urllib
+import magic, urllib, ssl
 
 class Test_Format_Pdf(BaseTest):
     label = 'PDF format'
@@ -13,7 +13,8 @@ def run(self, result):
         params = {'format': 'pdf'}
         url = result.make_url(params)
         # Need as plain string for magic
-        wh = urllib.urlopen(url)
+        context = ssl._create_unverified_context()
+        wh = urllib.urlopen(url, context=context)
         img = wh.read()
         wh.close()
 
@@ -24,4 +25,4 @@ def run(self, result):
                 raise ValidatorError('format', info, 'PDF', result)
             else:
                 result.tests.append('format')
-                return result
\ No newline at end of file
+                return result
diff --git a/implementations/validator/iiif_validator/tests/format_webp.py b/implementations/validator/iiif_validator/tests/format_webp.py
index 8937358..2281a7b 100644
--- a/implementations/validator/iiif_validator/tests/format_webp.py
+++ b/implementations/validator/iiif_validator/tests/format_webp.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 from .test import BaseTest, ValidatorError
-import urllib
+import urllib, ssl
 
 class Test_Format_Webp(BaseTest):
     label = 'WebP format'
@@ -14,11 +14,12 @@ def run(self, result):
         params = {'format': 'webp'}
         url = result.make_url(params)
         # Need as plain string for magic
-        wh = urllib.urlopen(url)
+        context = ssl._create_unverified_context()
+        wh = urllib.urlopen(url, context=context)
         img = wh.read()
         wh.close()
         if img[8:12] != "WEBP":
             raise ValidatorError('format', 'unknown', 'WEBP', result)
         else:
             result.tests.append('format')
-            return result
\ No newline at end of file
+            return result
diff --git a/implementations/validator/iiif_validator/tests/jsonld.py b/implementations/validator/iiif_validator/tests/jsonld.py
index 65a45dd..5d4b97d 100644
--- a/implementations/validator/iiif_validator/tests/jsonld.py
+++ b/implementations/validator/iiif_validator/tests/jsonld.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 from .test import BaseTest
+import ssl
 try:
     # python3
     from urllib.request import Request, urlopen, HTTPError
@@ -18,11 +19,12 @@ def run(self, result):
         hdrs = {'Accept': 'application/ld+json'}
         try:
             r = Request(url, headers=hdrs)
-            wh = urlopen(r)
-            img = wh.read()   
+            context = ssl._create_unverified_context()
+            wh = urlopen(r, context=context)
+            img = wh.read()
             wh.close()
         except HTTPError as e:
             wh = e
         ct = wh.headers['content-type']
         self.validationInfo.check('json-ld', ct.startswith('application/ld+json'), 1, result, "Content-Type to start with application/ld+json")
-        return result
\ No newline at end of file
+        return result
diff --git a/implementations/validator/iiif_validator/validator.py b/implementations/validator/iiif_validator/validator.py
index 4f7e8ef..8451741 100644
--- a/implementations/validator/iiif_validator/validator.py
+++ b/implementations/validator/iiif_validator/validator.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 import sys
 import random
 import os
+import ssl
 try:  # python2
     import BytesIO as io
     # Must check for python2 first as io exists but is wrong one
@@ -260,9 +261,9 @@ def fetch(self, url):
             "Referer": "http://iiif.io/api/image/validator",
             "User-Agent": "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.5; en-US; rv:1.9.1b3pre) Gecko/20081130 Minefield/3.1b3pre"}
         req = Request(url, headers=HEADERS)
-
+        context = ssl._create_unverified_context()
         try:
-            wh = urlopen(req, timeout=5)
+            wh = urlopen(req, timeout=5, context=context)
         except HTTPError as e:
             wh = e
         except: