diff --git a/requests/utils.py b/requests/utils.py
index 68efa469..106c7d89 100644
--- a/requests/utils.py
+++ b/requests/utils.py
@@ -50,7 +50,9 @@ def get_netrc_auth(url):
             # Return with login / password
             login_i = (0 if _netrc[0] else 1)
             return (_netrc[login_i], _netrc[2])
-    except NetrcParseError:
+    except NetrcParseError, IOError:
+        # If there was a parsing error or a permissions issue reading the file,
+        # we'll just skip netrc auth
         pass