I have some Python code that has worked fine for a long time, but just broke upon upgrading to Pro 2.8.1. The code uses a cloned conda environment from Pro (but I think you'll have this same problem in the default one, too). This isn't a GIS issue; I am just using the Python 'requests' library to download a file from the Internet (with the requests.get() method). I have to go through a proxy server at work, and had no problems downloading a test file that I use for development, which is hosted on a server on our network. As soon as I flip it over to download from the real source on the Internet (i.e.: not on our local network), I get an SSLError exception with this message:
SSLError: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='<hostname>', port=443): Max retries exceeded
with url: <URL here> (Caused by SSLError(SSLError(1, '[SSL: WRONG_VERSION_NUMBER]
wrong version number (_ssl.c:1091)')))
I've already found the solution, which I will post below so I can mark it correct. Keep reading.