diff --git a/webfinger.py b/webfinger.py
index 08b62ab..ee6247f 100644
--- a/webfinger.py
+++ b/webfinger.py
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ class WebFingerClient(object):
 
         return host
 
-    def finger(self, resource, host=None, rel=None, raw=False):
+    def finger(self, resource, host=None, rel=None, raw=False, verify=True):
 
         import requests
 
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ class WebFingerClient(object):
         if rel:
             params['rel'] = rel
 
-        resp = requests.get(url, params=params, headers=headers, timeout=self.timeout, verify=True)
+        resp = requests.get(url, params=params, headers=headers, timeout=self.timeout, verify=verify)
         logging.debug('fetching JRD from %s' % resp.url)
 
         content_type = resp.headers.get('Content-Type', '').split(';', 1)[0].strip()
@@ -118,10 +118,10 @@ class WebFingerClient(object):
         return WebFingerResponse(resp.json())
 
 
-def finger(resource, rel=None):
+def finger(resource, rel=None, verify=True):
     """ Convenience method for invoking WebFingerClient.
     """
-    return WebFingerClient().finger(resource, rel=rel)
+    return WebFingerClient().finger(resource, rel=rel, verify=verify)
 
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':