diff --git a/earwigbot/wiki/copyvios/__init__.py b/earwigbot/wiki/copyvios/__init__.py
index 9b1c616..af8cc6f 100644
--- a/earwigbot/wiki/copyvios/__init__.py
+++ b/earwigbot/wiki/copyvios/__init__.py
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ class CopyvioMixIn(object):
         return klass(credentials, opener)
 
     def copyvio_check(self, min_confidence=0.75, max_queries=15, max_time=-1,
-                      no_searches=False, no_links=False, short_circuit=True):
+                      no_searches=False, no_links=False, short_circuit=True, degree=5):
         """Check the page for copyright violations.
 
         Returns a :class:`.CopyvioCheckResult` object with information on the
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ class CopyvioMixIn(object):
             "nltk_dir": self._search_config["nltk_dir"],
             "lang": self._site.lang
         })
-        article = MarkovChain(parser.strip())
+        article = MarkovChain(parser.strip(), degree=degree)
         parser_args = {}
 
         if self._exclusions_db:
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ class CopyvioMixIn(object):
         workspace = CopyvioWorkspace(
             article, min_confidence, max_time, self._logger, self._addheaders,
             short_circuit=short_circuit, parser_args=parser_args, exclude_check=exclude,
-            config=self._search_config)
+            config=self._search_config, degree=degree)
 
         if article.size < 20:  # Auto-fail very small articles
             result = workspace.get_result()
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ class CopyvioMixIn(object):
         self._logger.info(result.get_log_message(self.title))
         return result
 
-    def copyvio_compare(self, url, min_confidence=0.75, max_time=30):
+    def copyvio_compare(self, url, min_confidence=0.75, max_time=30, degree=5):
         """Check the page like :py:meth:`copyvio_check` against a specific URL.
 
         This is essentially a reduced version of :meth:`copyvio_check` - a
@@ -185,10 +185,10 @@ class CopyvioMixIn(object):
         """
         log = u"Starting copyvio compare for [[{0}]] against {1}"
         self._logger.info(log.format(self.title, url))
-        article = MarkovChain(ArticleTextParser(self.get()).strip())
+        article = MarkovChain(ArticleTextParser(self.get()).strip(), degree=degree)
         workspace = CopyvioWorkspace(
             article, min_confidence, max_time, self._logger, self._addheaders,
-            max_time, num_workers=1, config=self._search_config)
+            max_time, num_workers=1, config=self._search_config, degree=degree)
         workspace.enqueue([url])
         workspace.wait()
         result = workspace.get_result()
diff --git a/earwigbot/wiki/copyvios/markov.py b/earwigbot/wiki/copyvios/markov.py
index 9a4717d..e3db1a7 100644
--- a/earwigbot/wiki/copyvios/markov.py
+++ b/earwigbot/wiki/copyvios/markov.py
@@ -29,10 +29,10 @@ class MarkovChain(object):
     """Implements a basic ngram Markov chain of words."""
     START = -1
     END = -2
-    degree = 5  # 2 for bigrams, 3 for trigrams, etc.
 
-    def __init__(self, text):
+    def __init__(self, text, degree=5):
         self.text = text
+        self.degree = degree  # 2 for bigrams, 3 for trigrams, etc.
         self.chain = self._build()
         self.size = self._get_size()
 
diff --git a/earwigbot/wiki/copyvios/search.py b/earwigbot/wiki/copyvios/search.py
index d05ec82..b5c8e03 100644
--- a/earwigbot/wiki/copyvios/search.py
+++ b/earwigbot/wiki/copyvios/search.py
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@ from StringIO import StringIO
 from urllib import quote, urlencode
 from urllib2 import URLError
 
+import ssl
+
 from earwigbot import importer
 from earwigbot.exceptions import SearchQueryError
 
@@ -58,6 +60,7 @@ class _BaseSearchEngine(object):
     def _open(self, *args):
         """Open a URL (like urlopen) and try to return its contents."""
         try:
+            ssl._create_default_https_context = ssl._create_unverified_context
             response = self.opener.open(*args)
             result = response.read()
         except (URLError, error) as exc:
diff --git a/earwigbot/wiki/copyvios/workers.py b/earwigbot/wiki/copyvios/workers.py
index 5282f24..9ec33eb 100644
--- a/earwigbot/wiki/copyvios/workers.py
+++ b/earwigbot/wiki/copyvios/workers.py
@@ -307,7 +307,7 @@ class _CopyvioWorker(object):
             source.skip()
             source.finish_work()
         else:
-            chain = MarkovChain(text) if text else None
+            chain = MarkovChain(text, degree=source.workspace._degree) if text else None
             source.workspace.compare(source, chain)
         return True
 
@@ -338,7 +338,7 @@ class CopyvioWorkspace(object):
 
     def __init__(self, article, min_confidence, max_time, logger, headers,
                  url_timeout=5, num_workers=8, short_circuit=True,
-                 parser_args=None, exclude_check=None, config=None):
+                 parser_args=None, exclude_check=None, config=None, degree=5):
         self.sources = []
         self.finished = False
         self.possible_miss = False
@@ -355,6 +355,7 @@ class CopyvioWorkspace(object):
             "workspace": self, "headers": headers, "timeout": url_timeout,
             "parser_args": parser_args, "search_config": config}
         self._exclude_check = exclude_check
+        self._degree = degree
 
         if _is_globalized:
             self._queues = _global_queues
diff --git a/earwigbot/wiki/site.py b/earwigbot/wiki/site.py
index 94c5a0e..07f39b4 100644
--- a/earwigbot/wiki/site.py
+++ b/earwigbot/wiki/site.py
@@ -157,6 +157,7 @@ class Site(object):
             user_agent = constants.USER_AGENT  # Set default UA
         self._oauth = oauth
         self._session = requests.Session()
+        self._session.verify = False  # XXX
         self._session.cookies = self._cookiejar
         self._session.headers["User-Agent"] = user_agent
         if oauth: