diff --git a/simple_recode.c b/simple_recode.c
index 0ddbbaa..a2b057c 100644
--- a/simple_recode.c
+++ b/simple_recode.c
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ char *simple_recode(const iconv_t handle, const char *str)
  * Like fputs(3), but transparently recodes s using the global variable
  * simple_recode_input_charset as the input charset and the current locale
  * as the output charset.
- * If simple_recode_input_charset is NULL it just calls fputs(3).
+ * Terminal control characters are replaced before output.
  * Exits with an error if iconv(3) or iconv_open(3) fail.
  *
  * Assumes that setlocale(3) has already been called.
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ int recode_fputs(const char *s, FILE *stream)
     int result;
 
     if (simple_recode_input_charset == NULL)	/* no conversion is needed */
-	return fputs(s, stream);
+	return fputs_sanitized(s, stream);
 
     if (simple_recode_iconv_handle == NULL) {
 	simple_recode_iconv_handle = iconv_open(nl_langinfo(CODESET),
@@ -165,7 +165,7 @@ int recode_fputs(const char *s, FILE *stream)
     out = simple_recode(simple_recode_iconv_handle, s);
     if (!out)
 	err_sys("iconv");
-    result = fputs(out, stream);
+    result = fputs_sanitized(out, stream);
     free(out);
 
     return result;
@@ -180,4 +180,3 @@ void simple_recode_iconv_close(void)
     simple_recode_iconv_handle = NULL;
     simple_recode_input_charset = NULL;
 }
-
diff --git a/utils.c b/utils.c
index a018694..ac4af68 100644
--- a/utils.c
+++ b/utils.c
@@ -73,6 +73,22 @@ char **merge_args(char *args, char *argv[], int *argc)
     return newargs;
 }
 
+/* Like fputs(3), but replace terminal control characters with '?'. */
+int fputs_sanitized(const char *s, FILE *stream)
+{
+    const unsigned char *p;
+
+    for (p = (const unsigned char *) s; *p; p++) {
+	if ((*p < 0x20 && *p != '\t') || *p == 0x7f) {
+	    if (fputc('?', stream) == EOF)
+		return EOF;
+	} else if (fputc(*p, stream) == EOF)
+	    return EOF;
+    }
+
+    return 0;
+}
+
 /* Error routines */
 void NORETURN err_sys(const char *fmt, ...)
 {
@@ -95,4 +111,3 @@ void NORETURN err_quit(const char *fmt, ...)
     va_end(ap);
     exit(2);
 }
-
diff --git a/utils.h b/utils.h
index ee2880f..2f747f6 100644
--- a/utils.h
+++ b/utils.h
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 #ifndef WHOIS_UTILS_H
 #define WHOIS_UTILS_H
 
+#include <stdio.h>
+
 /* Convenience macros */
 #define streq(a, b) (strcmp(a, b) == 0)
 #define strcaseeq(a, b) (strcasecmp(a, b) == 0)
@@ -68,6 +70,8 @@ void *MALLOC_FREE NONNULL do_nofail(void *ptr, const char *file, const int line)
 ;
 char **merge_args(char *args, char *argv[], int *argc);
 
+int fputs_sanitized(const char *s, FILE *stream);
+
 void NORETURN err_quit(const char *fmt, ...);
 void NORETURN err_sys(const char *fmt, ...);
 
diff --git a/whois.c b/whois.c
index d93500d..d143233 100644
--- a/whois.c
+++ b/whois.c
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ static void find_referral_server_verisign(char **, const char *);
 #ifdef HAVE_ICONV
 #include "simple_recode.h"
 #else
-#define recode_fputs(a, b) fputs(a, b)
+#define recode_fputs(a, b) fputs_sanitized(a, b)
 #endif
 
 /* hack */
@@ -430,7 +430,9 @@ int handle_query(const char *hserver, const char *hport,
 
     /* recursion is fun */
     if (!no_recursion && new_server && !strchr(query, ' ')) {
-	printf(_("\n\nFound a referral to %s.\n\n"), new_server);
+	fputs(_("\n\nFound a referral to "), stdout);
+	fputs_sanitized(new_server, stdout);
+	fputs(_(".\n\n"), stdout);
 	handle_query(new_server, NULL, query, flags);
 	free(new_server);
     }
@@ -968,6 +970,17 @@ static void find_referral_server_verisign(char **referral_server, const char *bu
     }
 }
 
+static int has_terminal_control(const char *s)
+{
+    const unsigned char *p;
+
+    for (p = (const unsigned char *) s; *p; p++)
+	if (*p < 0x20 || *p == 0x7f)
+	    return 1;
+
+    return 0;
+}
+
 /* returns a string which should be freed by the caller, or NULL */
 char *query_server(const char *server, const char *port, const char *query)
 {
@@ -1033,6 +1046,10 @@ char *query_server(const char *server, const char *port, const char *query)
 	free(referral_server);
 	referral_server = NULL;
     }
+    if (referral_server && has_terminal_control(referral_server)) {
+	free(referral_server);
+	referral_server = NULL;
+    }
 
     return referral_server;
 }
@@ -1616,4 +1633,3 @@ void NORETURN usage(int error)
 ));
     exit(error);
 }
-