diff --git a/pip/index.py b/pip/index.py
index 84ff6d29c..fdc2ee0b5 100644
--- a/pip/index.py
+++ b/pip/index.py
@@ -38,6 +38,10 @@ __all__ = ['PackageFinder']
 
 DEFAULT_MIRROR_HOSTNAME = "last.pypi.python.org"
 
+INSECURE_SCHEMES = {
+    "http": ["https"],
+}
+
 
 class PackageFinder(object):
     """This finds packages.
@@ -222,6 +226,29 @@ class PackageFinder(object):
         logger.debug('URLs to search for versions for %s:' % req)
         for location in locations:
             logger.debug('* %s' % location)
+
+            # Determine if this url used a secure transport mechanism
+            parsed = urlparse.urlparse(str(location))
+            if parsed.scheme in INSECURE_SCHEMES:
+                secure_schemes = INSECURE_SCHEMES[parsed.scheme]
+
+                if len(secure_schemes) == 1:
+                    ctx = (location, parsed.scheme, secure_schemes[0],
+                           parsed.netloc)
+                    logger.warn("%s uses an insecure transport scheme (%s). "
+                                "Consider using %s if %s has it available" %
+                                ctx)
+                elif len(secure_schemes) > 1:
+                    ctx = (location, parsed.scheme, ", ".join(secure_schemes),
+                                                                parsed.netloc)
+                    logger.warn("%s uses an insecure transport scheme (%s). "
+                                "Consider using one of %s if %s has any of "
+                                "them available" % ctx)
+                else:
+                    ctx = (location, parsed.scheme)
+                    logger.warn("%s uses an insecure transport scheme (%s)." %
+                                ctx)
+
         found_versions = []
         found_versions.extend(
             self._package_versions(