diff --git a/dnscrypt-proxy/common.go b/dnscrypt-proxy/common.go
index c3f268d5..7387aa89 100644
--- a/dnscrypt-proxy/common.go
+++ b/dnscrypt-proxy/common.go
@@ -1,15 +1,17 @@
 package main
 
 import (
+	"bytes"
 	"encoding/binary"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
+	"io/ioutil"
 	"net"
+	"os"
 	"runtime"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 	"unicode"
-	"os"
 )
 
 type CryptoConstruction uint16
@@ -38,7 +40,7 @@ var (
 )
 
 var (
-	FileDescriptors = make([]*os.File, 0)
+	FileDescriptors   = make([]*os.File, 0)
 	FileDescriptorNum = 0
 )
 
@@ -170,3 +172,12 @@ func MemUsage() {
 	fmt.Printf("\tSys = %v MiB", m.Sys/1024/1024)
 	fmt.Printf("\tNumGC = %v\n", m.NumGC)
 }
+
+func ReadTextFile(filename string) (string, error) {
+	bin, err := ioutil.ReadFile(filename)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+	bin = bytes.TrimPrefix(bin, []byte{0xef, 0xbb, 0xbf})
+	return string(bin), nil
+}
diff --git a/dnscrypt-proxy/plugin_block_ip.go b/dnscrypt-proxy/plugin_block_ip.go
index 3d8590d9..6e669cd4 100644
--- a/dnscrypt-proxy/plugin_block_ip.go
+++ b/dnscrypt-proxy/plugin_block_ip.go
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ package main
 import (
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
-	"io/ioutil"
 	"net"
 	"strings"
 	"time"
@@ -32,7 +31,7 @@ func (plugin *PluginBlockIP) Description() string {
 
 func (plugin *PluginBlockIP) Init(proxy *Proxy) error {
 	dlog.Noticef("Loading the set of IP blocking rules from [%s]", proxy.blockIPFile)
-	bin, err := ioutil.ReadFile(proxy.blockIPFile)
+	bin, err := ReadTextFile(proxy.blockIPFile)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
diff --git a/dnscrypt-proxy/plugin_block_name.go b/dnscrypt-proxy/plugin_block_name.go
index 07f14b3c..1d6785c8 100644
--- a/dnscrypt-proxy/plugin_block_name.go
+++ b/dnscrypt-proxy/plugin_block_name.go
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ package main
 import (
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
-	"io/ioutil"
 	"net"
 	"strings"
 	"time"
@@ -31,7 +30,7 @@ func (plugin *PluginBlockName) Description() string {
 
 func (plugin *PluginBlockName) Init(proxy *Proxy) error {
 	dlog.Noticef("Loading the set of blocking rules from [%s]", proxy.blockNameFile)
-	bin, err := ioutil.ReadFile(proxy.blockNameFile)
+	bin, err := ReadTextFile(proxy.blockNameFile)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
diff --git a/dnscrypt-proxy/plugin_cloak.go b/dnscrypt-proxy/plugin_cloak.go
index 885d8c9d..8058f00a 100644
--- a/dnscrypt-proxy/plugin_cloak.go
+++ b/dnscrypt-proxy/plugin_cloak.go
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 package main
 
 import (
-	"io/ioutil"
 	"net"
 	"strings"
 	"sync"
@@ -36,7 +35,7 @@ func (plugin *PluginCloak) Description() string {
 
 func (plugin *PluginCloak) Init(proxy *Proxy) error {
 	dlog.Noticef("Loading the set of cloaking rules from [%s]", proxy.cloakFile)
-	bin, err := ioutil.ReadFile(proxy.cloakFile)
+	bin, err := ReadTextFile(proxy.cloakFile)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
diff --git a/dnscrypt-proxy/plugin_forward.go b/dnscrypt-proxy/plugin_forward.go
index f878bf58..aa63bb8c 100644
--- a/dnscrypt-proxy/plugin_forward.go
+++ b/dnscrypt-proxy/plugin_forward.go
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ package main
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
-	"io/ioutil"
 	"math/rand"
 	"net"
 	"strings"
@@ -31,7 +30,7 @@ func (plugin *PluginForward) Description() string {
 
 func (plugin *PluginForward) Init(proxy *Proxy) error {
 	dlog.Noticef("Loading the set of forwarding rules from [%s]", proxy.forwardFile)
-	bin, err := ioutil.ReadFile(proxy.forwardFile)
+	bin, err := ReadTextFile(proxy.forwardFile)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
diff --git a/dnscrypt-proxy/plugin_whitelist_name.go b/dnscrypt-proxy/plugin_whitelist_name.go
index 1e235970..6af856ec 100644
--- a/dnscrypt-proxy/plugin_whitelist_name.go
+++ b/dnscrypt-proxy/plugin_whitelist_name.go
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ package main
 import (
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
-	"io/ioutil"
 	"net"
 	"strings"
 	"time"
@@ -31,7 +30,7 @@ func (plugin *PluginWhitelistName) Description() string {
 
 func (plugin *PluginWhitelistName) Init(proxy *Proxy) error {
 	dlog.Noticef("Loading the set of whitelisting rules from [%s]", proxy.whitelistNameFile)
-	bin, err := ioutil.ReadFile(proxy.whitelistNameFile)
+	bin, err := ReadTextFile(proxy.whitelistNameFile)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}