--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/src/main/java/de/mpiwg/gazetteer/utils/HTTPUtils.java	Mon Nov 02 16:41:23 2015 +0100
@@ -0,0 +1,114 @@
+package de.mpiwg.gazetteer.utils;
+
+import java.io.BufferedReader;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStreamReader;
+import java.net.HttpURLConnection;
+import java.net.URL;
+
+import javax.net.ssl.HttpsURLConnection;
+import javax.net.ssl.SSLContext;
+import javax.net.ssl.SSLSocketFactory;
+import javax.net.ssl.TrustManager;
+import javax.net.ssl.X509TrustManager;
+
+import java.security.KeyManagementException;
+import java.security.NoSuchAlgorithmException;
+import java.security.cert.X509Certificate;
+
+public class HTTPUtils {
+
+    final static TrustManager[] trustAllCerts = new TrustManager[] { new X509TrustManager() {
+        @Override
+        public void checkClientTrusted( final X509Certificate[] chain, final String authType ) {
+        }
+        @Override
+        public void checkServerTrusted( final X509Certificate[] chain, final String authType ) {
+        }
+        @Override
+        public X509Certificate[] getAcceptedIssuers() {
+            return null;
+        }
+    } };	
+	
+
+   
+    
+    public static HttpStringResponse getStringResponse(String url) throws IOException, KeyManagementException, NoSuchAlgorithmException{
+    	if(url.startsWith("https") || url.startsWith("HTTPS"))
+    		return getHttpSSLStringResponse(url);
+    	return getHttpStringResponse(url);
+    }
+    
+	private static HttpStringResponse getHttpSSLStringResponse(String link) throws IOException, KeyManagementException, NoSuchAlgorithmException{
+	    
+	    // Install the all-trusting trust manager
+	    final SSLContext sslContext = SSLContext.getInstance( "SSL" );
+	    sslContext.init( null, trustAllCerts, new java.security.SecureRandom() );
+	    // Create an ssl socket factory with our all-trusting manager
+	    final SSLSocketFactory sslSocketFactory = sslContext.getSocketFactory();
+		
+		URL url = new URL(link);
+		HttpURLConnection httpConn = (HttpURLConnection)url.openConnection();
+		
+		( (HttpsURLConnection) httpConn ).setSSLSocketFactory( sslSocketFactory );
+
+        
+        BufferedReader in = null;
+        if (httpConn.getResponseCode() >= 400) {
+        	in = new BufferedReader(
+                    new InputStreamReader(
+                    		httpConn.getErrorStream()));
+        } else {
+        	in = new BufferedReader(
+                    new InputStreamReader(
+                    		httpConn.getInputStream()));
+        }	        
+        
+        String inputLine;
+        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
+        while ((inputLine = in.readLine()) != null) 
+        	sb.append(inputLine + "\n");
+        in.close();
+        
+        return new HttpStringResponse(httpConn.getResponseCode(), sb.toString());
+	}
+	
+	private static HttpStringResponse getHttpStringResponse(String link) throws IOException{
+        
+		//System.out.println(url);
+		
+		URL url = new URL(link);
+		HttpURLConnection httpConn = (HttpURLConnection)url.openConnection();
+        
+        BufferedReader in = null;
+        if (httpConn.getResponseCode() >= 400) {
+        	in = new BufferedReader(
+                    new InputStreamReader(
+                    		httpConn.getErrorStream()));
+        } else {
+        	in = new BufferedReader(
+                    new InputStreamReader(
+                    		httpConn.getInputStream()));
+        }
+        
+        
+        String inputLine;
+        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
+        while ((inputLine = in.readLine()) != null) 
+        	sb.append(inputLine + "\n");
+        in.close();
+        
+        return new HttpStringResponse(httpConn.getResponseCode(), sb.toString());
+	}
+	
+	public static class HttpStringResponse{
+		public int code;
+		public String content;
+		public HttpStringResponse(int code, String content){
+			this.code = code;
+			this.content = content;
+		}
+	}	
+	
+}