diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/lookup/etcd.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/lookup/etcd.py
index 002068389f8..1ea42e8f84c 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/lookup/etcd.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/lookup/etcd.py
@@ -18,23 +18,25 @@ from __future__ import (absolute_import, division, print_function)
 __metaclass__ = type
 
 import os
-import urllib2
+
 try:
     import json
 except ImportError:
     import simplejson as json
 
 from ansible.plugins.lookup import LookupBase
+from ansible.module_utils.urls import open_url
 
 # this can be made configurable, not should not use ansible.cfg
 ANSIBLE_ETCD_URL = 'http://127.0.0.1:4001'
 if os.getenv('ANSIBLE_ETCD_URL') is not None:
     ANSIBLE_ETCD_URL = os.environ['ANSIBLE_ETCD_URL']
 
-class etcd():
-    def __init__(self, url=ANSIBLE_ETCD_URL):
+class Etcd:
+    def __init__(self, url=ANSIBLE_ETCD_URL, validate_certs):
         self.url = url
         self.baseurl = '%s/v1/keys' % (self.url)
+        self.validate_certs = validate_certs
 
     def get(self, key):
         url = "%s/%s" % (self.baseurl, key)
@@ -42,7 +44,7 @@ class etcd():
         data = None
         value = ""
         try:
-            r = urllib2.urlopen(url)
+            r = open_url(url, validate_certs=self.validate_certs)
             data = r.read()
         except:
             return value
@@ -67,7 +69,9 @@ class LookupModule(LookupBase):
         if isinstance(terms, basestring):
             terms = [ terms ]
 
-        etcd = etcd()
+        validate_certs = kwargs.get('validate_certs', True)
+
+        etcd = Etcd(validate_certs=validate_certs)
 
         ret = []
         for term in terms:
diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/lookup/url.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/lookup/url.py
index 9f1a89f772c..c6efc6a31b3 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/lookup/url.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/lookup/url.py
@@ -17,30 +17,36 @@
 from __future__ import (absolute_import, division, print_function)
 __metaclass__ = type
 
-from ansible.plugins.lookup import LookupBase
 import urllib2
 
+from ansible.errors import AnsibleError
+from ansible.plugins.lookup import LookupBase
+from ansible.module_utils.urls import open_url, ConnectionError, SSLValidationError
+from ansible.utils.unicode import to_unicode
+
 class LookupModule(LookupBase):
 
 
-    def run(self, terms, inject=None, **kwargs):
+    def run(self, terms, variables=None, **kwargs):
 
         if isinstance(terms, basestring):
             terms = [ terms ]
 
+        validate_certs = kwargs.get('validate_certs', True)
+
         ret = []
         for term in terms:
             try:
-                r = urllib2.Request(term)
-                response = urllib2.urlopen(r)
-            except URLError as e:
-                utils.warnings("Failed lookup url for %s : %s" % (term, str(e)))
-                continue
-            except HTTPError as e:
-                utils.warnings("Received HTTP error for %s : %s" % (term, str(e)))
-                continue
+                response = open_url(term, validate_certs=validate_certs)
+            except urllib2.URLError as e:
+                raise AnsibleError("Failed lookup url for %s : %s" % (term, str(e)))
+            except urllib2.HTTPError as e:
+                raise AnsibleError("Received HTTP error for %s : %s" % (term, str(e)))
+            except SSLValidationError as e:
+                raise AnsibleError("Error validating the server's certificate for %s: %s" % (term, str(e)))
+            except ConnectionError as e:
+                raise AnsibleError("Error connecting to %s: %s" % (term, str(e)))
 
             for line in response.read().splitlines():
-                ret.append(line)
-
+                ret.append(to_unicode(line))
         return ret