diff --git a/apport/packaging_impl/apt_dpkg.py b/apport/packaging_impl/apt_dpkg.py
index 10c189db3..1042b5f6e 100644
--- a/apport/packaging_impl/apt_dpkg.py
+++ b/apport/packaging_impl/apt_dpkg.py
@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@
 import glob
 import gzip
 import hashlib
-import http.client
 import json
 import logging
 import os
@@ -933,10 +932,6 @@ def get_source_tree(
                     return None
                 sf_urls = self.get_lp_source_package(srcpackage, version)
                 if sf_urls:
-                    proxy = ""
-                    if apt_pkg.config.find("Acquire::http::Proxy") != "":
-                        proxy = apt_pkg.config.find("Acquire::http::Proxy")
-                        apt_pkg.config.set("Acquire::http::Proxy", "")
                     fetch_progress = apt.progress.base.AcquireProgress()
                     fetcher = apt_pkg.Acquire(fetch_progress)
                     af_queue = []
@@ -950,8 +945,6 @@ def get_source_tree(
                     result = fetcher.run()
                     if result != fetcher.RESULT_CONTINUE:
                         return None
-                    if proxy:
-                        apt_pkg.config.set("Acquire::http::Proxy", proxy)
                     for dsc in glob.glob(os.path.join(output_dir, "*.dsc")):
                         subprocess.call(
                             ["dpkg-source", "-sn", "-x", dsc],
@@ -1184,9 +1177,6 @@ def install_packages(
         apt_pkg.config.clear("APT::Architectures")
         apt_pkg.config.set("APT::Architectures::", architecture)
         apt_pkg.config.set("Acquire::Languages", "none")
-        # directly connect to Launchpad when downloading deb files
-        apt_pkg.config.set("Acquire::http::Proxy::api.launchpad.net", "DIRECT")
-        apt_pkg.config.set("Acquire::http::Proxy::launchpad.net", "DIRECT")
 
         if not verbose:
             fetch_progress = apt.progress.base.AcquireProgress()
@@ -1625,22 +1615,19 @@ def _fetch_contents_file(
         """Returns True on success (including when no update is needed)."""
         url = f"{self._get_mirror(arch)}/dists/{dist}/Contents-{arch}.gz"
         if mtime:
-            # HTTPConnection requires server name e.g.
-            # archive.ubuntu.com
-            server = urllib.parse.urlparse(url)[1]
-            conn = http.client.HTTPConnection(server)
-            conn.request("HEAD", urllib.parse.urlparse(url)[2])
-            res = conn.getresponse()
-            modified_str = res.getheader("last-modified", None)
-            if modified_str:
-                modified = datetime.datetime.strptime(
-                    modified_str, "%a, %d %b %Y %H:%M:%S %Z"
-                )
-                if modified <= datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(mtime):
+            req = urllib.request.Request(url, method="HEAD")
+            with contextlib.suppress(OSError):
+                with urllib.request.urlopen(req) as res:
+                    modified_str = res.getheader("last-modified", None)
+                    if modified_str:
+                        modified = datetime.datetime.strptime(
+                            modified_str, "%a, %d %b %Y %H:%M:%S %Z"
+                        )
+                        if modified <= datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(mtime):
+                            return True
+                # don't update the file if it is empty
+                if res.getheader("content-length", None) == "40":
                     return True
-            # don't update the file if it is empty
-            if res.getheader("content-length", None) == "40":
-                return True
 
         self._contents_update = True
         try: