diff --git a/minecraft/networking/connection.py b/minecraft/networking/connection.py
index 9ef6a54..645d289 100644
--- a/minecraft/networking/connection.py
+++ b/minecraft/networking/connection.py
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ class Connection(object):
         # the server.
         self.socket = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
         self.socket.connect((self.options.address, self.options.port))
-        self.file_object = self.socket.makefile()
+        self.file_object = self.socket.makefile("rb")
 
     def _handshake(self, next_state=2):
         handshake = packets.HandShakePacket()
diff --git a/minecraft/networking/encryption.py b/minecraft/networking/encryption.py
index 9a47461..5d463d1 100644
--- a/minecraft/networking/encryption.py
+++ b/minecraft/networking/encryption.py
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ def encrypt_token_and_secret(pubkey, verification_token, shared_secret):
 def generate_verification_hash(server_id, shared_secret, public_key):
     verification_hash = sha1()
 
-    verification_hash.update(server_id)
+    verification_hash.update(server_id.encode('utf-8'))
     verification_hash.update(shared_secret)
     verification_hash.update(public_key)
 
diff --git a/tests/test_encryption.py b/tests/test_encryption.py
index a267b30..9e1b7a0 100644
--- a/tests/test_encryption.py
+++ b/tests/test_encryption.py
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ class Encryption(unittest.TestCase):
 
     def test_generate_hash(self):
         verification_hash = generate_verification_hash(
-            b"", "secret".encode('utf-8'),  self.public_key)
+            u"", "secret".encode('utf-8'),  self.public_key)
         self.assertEquals("1f142e737a84a974a5f2a22f6174a78d80fd97f5",
                           verification_hash)