diff --git a/Lib/httplib.py b/Lib/httplib.py
index bb4b59e..5696467 100644
--- a/Lib/httplib.py
+++ b/Lib/httplib.py
@@ -438,6 +438,9 @@
                 self.length = int(length)
             except ValueError:
                 self.length = None
+            else:
+                if self.length < 0:  # ignore nonsensical negative lengths
+                    self.length = None
         else:
             self.length = None
 
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_httplib.py b/Lib/test/test_httplib.py
index e9dd9d6..67719fd 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_httplib.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_httplib.py
@@ -184,6 +184,13 @@
             finally:
                 resp.close()
 
+    def test_negative_content_length(self):
+        sock = FakeSocket('HTTP/1.1 200 OK\r\nContent-Length: -1\r\n\r\nHello\r\n')
+        resp = httplib.HTTPResponse(sock, method="GET")
+        resp.begin()
+        self.assertEquals(resp.read(), 'Hello\r\n')
+        resp.close()
+
 
 class OfflineTest(TestCase):
     def test_responses(self):