XML : webclient returns valid string from windows server (2008 R2) empty string from workstation (windows 8.1)

When the following code is run from a script component in SSIS (2008 R2) on Windows Server (2008 R2) a string is returned. When the same code is run on Windows 8.1 it returns an empty string.

When I use put the URL string into chrome on my local system the string is returned. When I put it into IE 11 nothing is returned. I have chrome as my default browser.

  string url = Dts.Variables["User::URL"].Value.ToString();    //Create a Web Client  System.Net.ServicePointManager.DefaultConnectionLimit = int.MaxValue;    using (WebClient client = new WebClient())  {       //Download the xml document as a string       xmlDoc = client.DownloadString(url);  }