diff --git a/boot.php b/boot.php
index 5baaa218fa..2e3480f405 100644
--- a/boot.php
+++ b/boot.php
@@ -298,6 +298,13 @@ function fetch_url($url,$binary = false) {
 	curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION,true);
 	curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS,8);
 	curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER,true);
+
+	// by default we will allow self-signed certs
+	// but you can override this
+
+	$check_cert = get_config('system','verifyssl');
+	curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, (($check_cert) ? true : false));
+
 	$prx = get_config('system','proxy');
 	if(strlen($prx)) {
 		curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPPROXYTUNNEL, 1);
@@ -327,6 +334,8 @@ function post_url($url,$params) {
 	curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER,true);
 	curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST,1);
 	curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS,$params);
+	$check_cert = get_config('system','verifyssl');
+	curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, (($check_cert) ? true : false));
 	$prx = get_config('system','proxy');
 	if(strlen($prx)) {
 		curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPPROXYTUNNEL, 1);
diff --git a/include/Photo.php b/include/Photo.php
index 0f5003a6f7..e418cde462 100644
--- a/include/Photo.php
+++ b/include/Photo.php
@@ -6,12 +6,15 @@ class Photo {
 	private $image;
 	private $width;
 	private $height;
+	private $valid;
 
 	public function __construct($data) {
+		$this->valid = false;
 		$this->image = @imagecreatefromstring($data);
 		if($this->image !== FALSE) {
 			$this->width  = imagesx($this->image);
 			$this->height = imagesy($this->image);
+			$this->valid  = true;
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -20,6 +23,10 @@ class Photo {
 			imagedestroy($this->image);
 	}
 
+	public function is_valid() {
+		return $this->valid;
+	}
+
 	public function getWidth() {
 		return $this->width;
 	}
diff --git a/include/items.php b/include/items.php
index ac4e694beb..799af48ac1 100644
--- a/include/items.php
+++ b/include/items.php
@@ -633,7 +633,7 @@ function consume_feed($xml,$importer,$contact, &$hub) {
 			$resource_id = $r[0]['resource-id'];
 			$img_str = fetch_url($photo_url,true);
 			$img = new Photo($img_str);
-			if($img) {
+			if($img->is_valid()) {
 				q("DELETE FROM `photo` WHERE `resource-id` = '%s' AND contact-id` = %d AND `uid` = %d",
 					dbesc($resource_id),
 					intval($contact['id']),
diff --git a/mod/dfrn_confirm.php b/mod/dfrn_confirm.php
index 5808b6fecc..43e28aef8b 100644
--- a/mod/dfrn_confirm.php
+++ b/mod/dfrn_confirm.php
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ function dfrn_confirm_post(&$a) {
 
 		if(! count($r)) {
 			xml_status(3); // failure
-			return; // NOTREACHED
+			// NOTREACHED
 		}
 
 		$my_prvkey = $r[0]['prvkey'];
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ function dfrn_confirm_post(&$a) {
 		);
 		if(count($r)) {
 			xml_status(1); // Birthday paradox - duplicate dfrn-id
-			return; // NOTREACHED
+			// NOTREACHED
 		}
 
 		$r = q("UPDATE `contact` SET `dfrn-id` = '%s', `pubkey` = '%s' WHERE `id` = %d LIMIT 1",
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ function dfrn_confirm_post(&$a) {
 				$filename = basename($r[0]['photo']);
 				$img_str = fetch_url($r[0]['photo'],true);
 				$img = new Photo($img_str);
-				if($img) {
+				if($img->is_valid()) {
 
 					$img->scaleImageSquare(175);
 					
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ function dfrn_confirm_post(&$a) {
 			);
 			if((count($r)) && ($r[0]['notify-flags'] & NOTIFY_CONFIRM)) {
 
-				$tpl = (($new_relation == $REL_BUD) 
+				$tpl = (($new_relation == REL_BUD) 
 					? load_view_file('view/friend_complete_eml.tpl')
 					: load_view_file('view/intro_complete_eml.tpl'));
 			
@@ -185,7 +185,7 @@ function dfrn_confirm_post(&$a) {
 				}
 			}
 			xml_status(0); // Success
-			return; // NOTREACHED
+			// NOTREACHED
 		}
 		else {
 			xml_status(2);	// Hopefully temporary problem that can be retried.
@@ -201,7 +201,7 @@ function dfrn_confirm_post(&$a) {
 		$uid = get_uid();
 
 		if(! $uid) {
-			notice( t("Permission denied.") . EOL );
+			notice( t('Permission denied.') . EOL );
 			return;
 		}	
 	
@@ -329,7 +329,7 @@ function dfrn_confirm_post(&$a) {
 			$filename = basename($r[0]['photo']);
 			$img_str = fetch_url($r[0]['photo'],true);
 			$img = new Photo($img_str);
-			if($img) {
+			if($img->is_valid()) {
 
 				$img->scaleImageSquare(175);
 					
diff --git a/mod/photos.php b/mod/photos.php
index 345a22d504..052f3c1857 100644
--- a/mod/photos.php
+++ b/mod/photos.php
@@ -287,7 +287,7 @@ function photos_post(&$a) {
 	$imagedata = @file_get_contents($src);
 	$ph = new Photo($imagedata);
 
-	if(! ($image = $ph->getImage())) {
+	if(! $ph->is_valid()) {
 		notice( t('Unable to process image.') . EOL );
 		@unlink($src);
 		killme();
diff --git a/mod/profile_photo.php b/mod/profile_photo.php
index bc2e5b4eaa..07df671da4 100644
--- a/mod/profile_photo.php
+++ b/mod/profile_photo.php
@@ -53,39 +53,42 @@ function profile_photo_post(&$a) {
 			$base_image = $r[0];
 
 			$im = new Photo($base_image['data']);
-			$im->cropImage(175,$srcX,$srcY,$srcW,$srcH);
+			if($im->is_valid()) {
+				$im->cropImage(175,$srcX,$srcY,$srcW,$srcH);
 
-			$r = $im->store(get_uid(), 0, $base_image['resource-id'],$base_image['filename'], t('Profile Photos'), 4, 1);
+				$r = $im->store(get_uid(), 0, $base_image['resource-id'],$base_image['filename'], t('Profile Photos'), 4, 1);
 
-			if($r === false)
-				notice ( t('Image size reduction [175] failed.') . EOL );
+				if($r === false)
+					notice ( t('Image size reduction [175] failed.') . EOL );
 
-			$im->scaleImage(80);
+				$im->scaleImage(80);
 
-			$r = $im->store(get_uid(), 0, $base_image['resource-id'],$base_image['filename'], t('Profile Photos'), 5, 1);
+				$r = $im->store(get_uid(), 0, $base_image['resource-id'],$base_image['filename'], t('Profile Photos'), 5, 1);
 			
-			if($r === false)
-				notice( t('Image size reduction [80] failed.') . EOL );
+				if($r === false)
+					notice( t('Image size reduction [80] failed.') . EOL );
 
-			// Unset the profile photo flag from any other photos I own
+				// Unset the profile photo flag from any other photos I own
 
-			$r = q("UPDATE `photo` SET `profile` = 0 WHERE `profile` = 1 AND `resource-id` != '%s' AND `uid` = %d",
-				dbesc($base_image['resource-id']),
-				intval(get_uid())
-			);
+				$r = q("UPDATE `photo` SET `profile` = 0 WHERE `profile` = 1 AND `resource-id` != '%s' AND `uid` = %d",
+					dbesc($base_image['resource-id']),
+					intval(get_uid())
+				);
 
-			$r = q("UPDATE `contact` SET `avatar-date` = '%s' WHERE `self` = 1 AND `uid` = %d LIMIT 1",
-				dbesc(datetime_convert()),
-				intval(get_uid())
-			);
-
-			// Update global directory in background
-			$php_path = ((strlen($a->config['php_path'])) ? $a->config['php_path'] : 'php');
-			$url = $_SESSION['my_url'];
-			if($url && strlen(get_config('system','directory_submit_url')))
-				proc_close(proc_open("\"$php_path\" \"include/directory.php\" \"$url\" &",
-					array(),$foo));
+				$r = q("UPDATE `contact` SET `avatar-date` = '%s' WHERE `self` = 1 AND `uid` = %d LIMIT 1",
+					dbesc(datetime_convert()),
+					intval(get_uid())
+				);
 
+				// Update global directory in background
+				$php_path = ((strlen($a->config['php_path'])) ? $a->config['php_path'] : 'php');
+				$url = $_SESSION['my_url'];
+				if($url && strlen(get_config('system','directory_submit_url')))
+					proc_close(proc_open("\"$php_path\" \"include/directory.php\" \"$url\" &",
+						array(),$foo));
+			}
+			else
+				notice( t('Unable to process image') . EOL);
 		}
 		goaway($a->get_baseurl() . '/profiles');
 		return; // NOTREACHED
@@ -98,7 +101,7 @@ function profile_photo_post(&$a) {
 	$imagedata = @file_get_contents($src);
 	$ph = new Photo($imagedata);
 
-	if(! ($image = $ph->getImage())) {
+	if(! $ph->is_valid()) {
 		notice( t('Unable to process image.') . EOL );
 		@unlink($src);
 		return;
diff --git a/mod/wall_upload.php b/mod/wall_upload.php
index 257235d62d..9875a01ade 100644
--- a/mod/wall_upload.php
+++ b/mod/wall_upload.php
@@ -4,10 +4,10 @@ require_once('Photo.php');
 
 function wall_upload_post(&$a) {
 
-        if(! local_user()) {
-                echo ( t('Permission denied.') . EOL );
-                killme();
-        }
+	if(! local_user()) {
+		echo ( t('Permission denied.') . EOL );
+		killme();
+	}
 
 	if(! x($_FILES,'userfile'))
 		killme();
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ function wall_upload_post(&$a) {
 	$imagedata = @file_get_contents($src);
 	$ph = new Photo($imagedata);
 
-	if(! ($image = $ph->getImage())) {
+	if(! $ph->is_valid()) {
 		echo ( t('Unable to process image.') . EOL);
 		@unlink($src);
 		killme();