diff --git a/kdecore/tests/kstringhandlertest.cpp b/kdecore/tests/kstringhandlertest.cpp
index 7e7da216..c47c2a13 100644
--- a/kdecore/tests/kstringhandlertest.cpp
+++ b/kdecore/tests/kstringhandlertest.cpp
@@ -141,16 +141,6 @@ void KStringHandlerTest::naturalCompare()
     QCOMPARE(KStringHandler::naturalCompare("abc.jpg", "abc_a.jpg", Qt::CaseInsensitive), -1);
 }
 
-void KStringHandlerTest::obscure()
-{
-  // See bug 167900, obscure() produced chars that could not properly be converted to and from
-  // UTF8. The result was that storing passwords with '!' in them did not work.
-  QString test = "!TEST!";
-  QString obscured = KStringHandler::obscure( test );
-  QByteArray obscuredBytes = obscured.toUtf8();
-  QCOMPARE( KStringHandler::obscure( QString::fromUtf8( obscuredBytes ) ), test );
-}
-
 void KStringHandlerTest::preProcessWrap_data()
 {
     const QChar zwsp(0x200b);
diff --git a/kdecore/tests/kstringhandlertest.h b/kdecore/tests/kstringhandlertest.h
index dc0f8b28..54c6b383 100644
--- a/kdecore/tests/kstringhandlertest.h
+++ b/kdecore/tests/kstringhandlertest.h
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ private Q_SLOTS:
     void tagURLs();
     void perlSplit();
     void naturalCompare();
-    void obscure();
     void preProcessWrap_data();
     void preProcessWrap();
 
diff --git a/kdecore/text/kstringhandler.cpp b/kdecore/text/kstringhandler.cpp
index 10c10eb6..df62cdd2 100644
--- a/kdecore/text/kstringhandler.cpp
+++ b/kdecore/text/kstringhandler.cpp
@@ -185,20 +185,6 @@ QString KStringHandler::tagUrls( const QString& text )
     return richText;
 }
 
-QString KStringHandler::obscure( const QString &str )
-{
-  QString result;
-  const QChar *unicode = str.unicode();
-  for ( int i = 0; i < str.length(); ++i )
-    // yes, no typo. can't encode ' ' or '!' because
-    // they're the unicode BOM. stupid scrambling. stupid.
-    result += ( unicode[ i ].unicode() <= 0x21 ) ? unicode[ i ] :
-        QChar( 0x1001F - unicode[ i ].unicode() );
-
-  return result;
-}
-
-
 bool KStringHandler::isUtf8( const char *buf )
 {
   int i, n;
diff --git a/kdecore/text/kstringhandler.h b/kdecore/text/kstringhandler.h
index a3e1242c..ede8daf2 100644
--- a/kdecore/text/kstringhandler.h
+++ b/kdecore/text/kstringhandler.h
@@ -165,21 +165,6 @@ namespace KStringHandler
      */
     KDECORE_EXPORT QString tagUrls( const QString& text );
 
-    /**
-      Obscure string by using a simple symmetric encryption. Applying the
-      function to a string obscured by this function will result in the original
-      string.
-
-      The function can be used to obscure passwords stored to configuration
-      files. Note that this won't give you any more security than preventing
-      that the password is directly copied and pasted.
-
-      @param str string to be obscured
-      @return obscured string
-    */
-    KDECORE_EXPORT QString obscure( const QString &str );
-
-
     /**
       Guess whether a string is UTF8 encoded.