diff --git a/linkcheck/director/console.py b/linkcheck/director/console.py
index 1d3d4484..61bb6890 100644
--- a/linkcheck/director/console.py
+++ b/linkcheck/director/console.py
@@ -27,13 +27,6 @@ stderr = i18n.get_encoded_writer(out=sys.stderr)
 stdout = i18n.get_encoded_writer()
 
 
-def encode (text):
-    """Encode text with default encoding if its Unicode."""
-    if isinstance(text, unicode):
-        return text.encode(i18n.default_encoding, 'ignore')
-    return text
-
-
 class StatusLogger (object):
     """Standard status logger. Default output is stderr."""
 
diff --git a/linkchecker b/linkchecker
index 9b5be4a0..f8e0a02b 100755
--- a/linkchecker
+++ b/linkchecker
@@ -542,7 +542,7 @@ for entry in config["authentication"]:
         attrs["strpattern"] = attrs["pattern"].pattern
         msg = _("Enter LinkChecker password for user %(user)s" \
                 " at %(strpattern)s:") % attrs
-        entry["password"] = getpass.getpass(console.encode(msg))
+        entry["password"] = getpass.getpass(msg)
 if options.useragent is not None:
     config["useragent"] = options.useragent
 if options.cookiefile is not None: