diff --git a/external/kinesis-asl-assembly/pom.xml b/external/kinesis-asl-assembly/pom.xml
index e057b78abdc8..6fb88ebae5b3 100644
--- a/external/kinesis-asl-assembly/pom.xml
+++ b/external/kinesis-asl-assembly/pom.xml
@@ -63,7 +63,12 @@
     <dependency>
       <groupId>com.google.protobuf</groupId>
       <artifactId>protobuf-java</artifactId>
-      <scope>provided</scope>
+      <version>2.6.1</version>
+      <!-- 
+         We are being explicit about version here and overriding the 
+         spark default of 2.5.0 because KCL appears to have introduced 
+         a dependency on protobuf 2.6.1 somewhere between KCL 1.4.0 and 1.6.1.
+       -->
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.glassfish.jersey.core</groupId>
@@ -147,6 +152,15 @@
             <include>*:*</include>
           </includes>
         </artifactSet>
+        <relocations>
+          <relocation>
+            <pattern>com.google.protobuf</pattern>
+            <shadedPattern>kinesis.protobuf</shadedPattern>
+            <includes>
+              <include>com.google.protobuf.**</include>
+            </includes>
+          </relocation>
+        </relocations>
         <filters>
           <filter>
             <artifact>*:*</artifact>