diff --git a/includes/common.inc b/includes/common.inc
index b8cd55f..0bc5d68 100644
--- a/includes/common.inc
+++ b/includes/common.inc
@@ -829,11 +829,8 @@ function drupal_http_request($url, array $options = array()) {
     $result->code = -$errno;
     $result->error = trim($errstr) ? trim($errstr) : t('Error opening socket @socket', array('@socket' => $socket));
 
-    // Mark that this request failed. This will trigger a check of the web
-    // server's ability to make outgoing HTTP requests the next time that
-    // requirements checking is performed.
-    // See system_requirements()
-    variable_set('drupal_http_request_fails', TRUE);
+    // Log the HTTP request failure to watchdog to alert administrators.
+    watchdog('http', t('HTTP request to @url failed', array('@url' => $url)), WATCHDOG_WARNING);
 
     return $result;
   }
diff --git a/modules/system/system.install b/modules/system/system.install
index e067444..b95d45f 100644
--- a/modules/system/system.install
+++ b/modules/system/system.install
@@ -474,16 +474,6 @@ function system_requirements($phase) {
       );
     }
     $requirements['update status']['title'] = $t('Update notifications');
-
-    // Check that Drupal can issue HTTP requests.
-    if (variable_get('drupal_http_request_fails', TRUE) && !system_check_http_request()) {
-      $requirements['http requests'] = array(
-        'title' => $t('HTTP request status'),
-        'value' => $t('Fails'),
-        'severity' => REQUIREMENT_ERROR,
-        'description' => $t('Your system or network configuration does not allow Drupal to access web pages, resulting in reduced functionality. This could be due to your webserver configuration or PHP settings, and should be resolved in order to download information about available updates, fetch aggregator feeds, sign in via OpenID, or use other network-dependent services. If you are certain that Drupal can access web pages but you are still seeing this message, you may add <code>$conf[\'drupal_http_request_fails\'] = FALSE;</code> to the bottom of your settings.php file.'),
-      );
-    }
   }
 
   return $requirements;
@@ -2967,5 +2957,21 @@ function system_update_7071() {
 
 /**
  * @} End of "defgroup updates-6.x-to-7.x"
+ */
+
+/**
+ * @addtogroup updates-7.x-extra
+ * @{
+ */
+
+/**
+ * Remove the stale 'http_request_fails' variable.
+ */
+function system_update_7072() {
+  variable_del('drupal_http_request_fails');
+}
+
+/**
+ * @} End of "defgroup updates-7.x-extra"
  * The next series of updates should start at 8000.
  */