diff --git a/src/www_email.c b/src/www_email.c
index 5de77ce..e1c1b5a 100644
--- a/src/www_email.c
+++ b/src/www_email.c
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ int www_send_email(struct user_record *user, char *recipient, char *subject, cha
 	uname(&name);
 
 	for (char *p = ibody; *p != '\0'; ++p) {
-		if (*p == 0xc2 && *(p+1) == 0xa0) {
+		if ((*p  & 0xff) == 0xc2 && (*(p + 1) & 0xff) == 0xa0) {
 			stralloc_append1(&sa, ' ');
 			p++;
 		} else if (*p != '\n') {
diff --git a/src/www_msgs.c b/src/www_msgs.c
index a2f769c..7f145cd 100644
--- a/src/www_msgs.c
+++ b/src/www_msgs.c
@@ -1119,7 +1119,7 @@ int www_send_msg(struct user_record *user, char *to, char *subj, int conference,
 	
 		// remove nbsp
 		while (*p != '\0') {
-			if (*p == 0xc2 && *(p + 1) == 0xa0) {
+			if ((*p  & 0xff) == 0xc2 && (*(p + 1) & 0xff) == 0xa0) {
 				stralloc_append1(&unhtmlized, ' ');
 				p++;
 			} else {