diff --git a/ethermess-backend.c b/ethermess-backend.c
index 737a72c..baaf062 100644
--- a/ethermess-backend.c
+++ b/ethermess-backend.c
@@ -427,6 +427,8 @@ void writeallx(int fd, unsigned char *buf, size_t length) {
 	}
 }
 
+bool check_utf8(const unsigned char *data, size_t data_length, bool newline_allowed);
+
 void read_status(void) {
 	unsigned char status;
 	readallx(0, &status, 1);
@@ -437,8 +439,14 @@ void read_status(void) {
 	unsigned char length;
 	readallx(0, &length, 1);
 
-	readallx(0, own_nick, length);
+	unsigned char nick[256];
+	readallx(0, nick, length);
 
+	if (!check_utf8(nick, length, false)) {
+		errx(1, "Frontend sent a nick with malformed utf-8 or control characters");
+	}
+
+	memcpy(own_nick, nick, length);
 	own_nick_length = length;
 }
 
diff --git a/ethermess.py b/ethermess.py
index 0eb255f..0090101 100644
--- a/ethermess.py
+++ b/ethermess.py
@@ -1,2 +1,26 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python3
 libexec_dir = __LIBEXECDIR__
+
+import subprocess
+import sys
+import time
+
+nick = input('nick> ').encode('utf-8')
+
+proc = subprocess.Popen(['sudo', libexec_dir + '/ethermess-backend', *sys.argv[1:]], stdin = subprocess.PIPE, stdout = sys.stdout)
+
+proc.stdin.write(bytes([0, len(nick)]) + nick)
+proc.stdin.flush()
+
+print('s - request status, i - request msgid, m - send message, ^D - quit')
+
+try:
+	while True:
+		proc.stdin.write(input('').encode('utf-8'))
+		proc.stdin.flush()
+
+except EOFError:
+	proc.stdin.write(b'q')
+	proc.stdin.flush()
+
+sys.exit(proc.wait())