proxy - Got requests.exceptions.SSLError error when running googleplay-api

I want to share my experience on the problem, so this is sort of a self-answered question. Hope it helps.

I'm trying to use googleplay-api to download apks from Google Play. My network environment forces me to use a web proxy. I got the following error when running python search.py earth:

$ python search.py earth
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "search.py", line 30, in <module>
    api.login(GOOGLE_LOGIN, GOOGLE_PASSWORD, AUTH_TOKEN)
  File "/home/atp/build/googleplay-api/googleplay.py", line 125, in login
    response = requests.post(self.URL_LOGIN, data=params, headers=headers, verify=False)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/requests/api.py", line 88, in post
    return request('post', url, data=data, **kwargs)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/requests/api.py", line 44, in request
    return session.request(method=method, url=url, **kwargs)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/requests/sessions.py", line 335, in request
    resp = self.send(prep, **send_kwargs)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/requests/sessions.py", line 438, in send
    r = adapter.send(request, **kwargs)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/requests/adapters.py", line 331, in send
    raise SSLError(e)
requests.exceptions.SSLError: hostname 'android.clients.google.com' doesn't match either of '*.google.com', '*.android.com', '*.appengine.google.com', '*.cloud.google.com', '*.google-analytics.com', '*.google.ca', '*.google.cl', '*.google.co.in', '*.google.co.jp', '*.google.co.uk', '*.google.com.ar', '*.google.com.au', '*.google.com.br', '*.google.com.co', '*.google.com.mx', '*.google.com.tr', '*.google.com.vn', '*.google.de', '*.google.es', '*.google.fr', '*.google.hu', '*.google.it', '*.google.nl', '*.google.pl', '*.google.pt', '*.googleapis.cn', '*.googlecommerce.com', '*.googlevideo.com', '*.gstatic.com', '*.urchin.com', '*.url.google.com', '*.youtube-nocookie.com', '*.youtube.com', '*.youtubeeducation.com', '*.ytimg.com', 'android.com', 'g.co', 'goo.gl', 'google-analytics.com', 'google.com', 'googlecommerce.com', 'urchin.com', 'youtu.be', 'youtube.com', 'youtubeeducation.com'

The URL that was requested was https://android.clients.google.com/auth. The strange thing is that the certificate is indeed invalid, as pointed out by the error message. However, when I visit the URL in google chrome browser, I got a different certificate, which is valid. However, however, when I visit the URL in Internet explorer, I got the same invalid certificate as googleplay-api. The thumbprint of the invalid certificate is ad 3c 56 fb e8 c0 62 b0 ff 89 21 52 98 b1 a1 d4 94 a4 1c 84, while the valid one is ‎77 b7 b3 81 72 29 6c 8e 3b 40 24 f8 d7 85 4c e0 7f ae 4f 43.

I couldn't figure out the reason for this strange behaviour. It's probably related my web proxy.

I finally had to workaround this problem by changing urllib3:

--- /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/urllib3/connectionpool.py.orig     2014-01-22 14:59:28.939379250 +0800
+++ /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/urllib3/connectionpool.py  2014-01-22 14:59:37.328378991 +0800
@@ -574,7 +574,7 @@
         self.cert_reqs = cert_reqs
         self.ca_certs = ca_certs
         self.ssl_version = ssl_version
-        self.assert_hostname = assert_hostname
+        self.assert_hostname = False
         self.assert_fingerprint = assert_fingerprint

     def _prepare_conn(self, connection):