title: How to use non utf-8 input in mod_python python version 2
body: <p>I have tried to encode user input using .decode("utf-8") . This works if I try <code>"—".decode("utf-8")</code> in a python terminal, and returns <code>u'\u2014</code> . However, when I use <code>title=str(data.getfirst("title")).decode("utf-8")</code>, and "—" is givin as input into the field "title," i get the error</p>
  
  <pre><code>MOD_PYTHON ERROR
  
  ProcessId:      15713
  Interpreter:    '104.236.175.124'
  
  ServerName:     '104.236.175.124'
  DocumentRoot:   '/var/www/html'
  
  URI:            '/news/process'
  Location:       None
  Directory:      '/var/www/html/news/'
  Filename:       '/var/www/html/news/process'
  PathInfo:       ''
  
  Phase:          'PythonHandler'
  Handler:        'main'
  
  Traceback (most recent call last):
  
    File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/mod_python/importer.py", line 1537, in HandlerDispatch
      default=default_handler, arg=req, silent=hlist.silent)
  
    File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/mod_python/importer.py", line 1229, in _process_target
      result = _execute_target(config, req, object, arg)
  
    File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/mod_python/importer.py", line 1128, in _execute_target
      result = object(arg)
  
    File "/var/www/html/news/main.py", line 260, in handler
      title=str(data.getfirst("title")).decode("utf-8")
  
    File "/usr/lib/python2.7/encodings/utf_8.py", line 16, in decode
      return codecs.utf_8_decode(input, errors, True)
  
  UnicodeDecodeError: 'utf8' codec can't decode byte 0x97 in position 0: invalid start byte
  
  
  MODULE CACHE DETAILS
  
  Accessed:       Thu Dec 11 22:53:15 2014
  Generation:     5
  
  _mp_383c313d3e7418a670f804c3690ec23d {
    FileName:     '/var/www/html/news/main.py'
    Instance:     4
    Generation:   5
    Modified:     Thu Dec 11 22:41:18 2014
    Imported:     Thu Dec 11 22:44:39 2014
    Children:     '/var/www/html/news/watermark.py'
  }
  
  _mp_4e16edabf4b38a5ecba6b7d6a0929034 {
    FileName:     '/var/www/html/news/watermark.py'
    Instance:     1
    Generation:   1
    Modified:     Sun Dec  7 22:23:13 2014
    Imported:     Thu Dec 11 22:29:44 2014
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>My Python version is 2.7, and my mod_python version is 3.5.</p>
  
  <p>Thank you for your time,</p>
  
  <p>Daniel</p>