static function _fetchURL($url)
    {
        if (self::$disable_url_fetch) {
            return false;
        }

        $parts = parse_url($url);
        $data = '';
        switch ($parts['scheme']) {
            case 'http':
                $fsock = @fsockopen($parts['host'], isset($parts['port']) ? $parts['port'] : 80);
                if (!$fsock) {
                    return false;
                }
                fputs($fsock, "GET $parts[path] HTTP/1.0\r\n");
                fputs($fsock, "Host: $parts[host]\r\n\r\n");
                $line = fgets($fsock, 1024);
                if (strlen($line) < 3) {
                    return false;
                }
                preg_match('#HTTP/1.\d (\d{3})#', $line, $temp);
                if ($temp[1] != '200') {
                    return false;
                }

                // skip the rest of the headers in the http response
                while (!feof($fsock) && fgets($fsock, 1024) != "\r\n") {
                }

                while (!feof($fsock)) {
                    $data.= fread($fsock, 1024);
                }

                break;
            //case 'ftp':
            //case 'ldap':
            //default:
        }

        return $data;
    }