diff --git a/pylot/core/io/location.py b/pylot/core/io/location.py
index 6fa2bbac..0fc5130d 100644
--- a/pylot/core/io/location.py
+++ b/pylot/core/io/location.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 from obspy import UTCDateTime
 from obspy.core import event as ope
 
-from pylot.core.util.utils import getLogin, getHash
+from pylot.core.util.utils import getLogin, get_hash
 
 
 def create_amplitude(pickID, amp, unit, category, cinfo):
@@ -210,7 +210,7 @@ def create_resourceID(timetohash, restype, authority_id=None, hrstr=None):
     '''
     assert isinstance(timetohash, UTCDateTime), "'timetohash' is not an ObsPy" \
                                                 "UTCDateTime object"
-    hid = getHash(timetohash)
+    hid = get_hash(timetohash)
     if hrstr is None:
         resID = ope.ResourceIdentifier(restype + '/' + hid[0:6])
     else:
diff --git a/pylot/core/io/phases.py b/pylot/core/io/phases.py
index d7dc5856..3f8f96b5 100644
--- a/pylot/core/io/phases.py
+++ b/pylot/core/io/phases.py
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ from pylot.core.io.inputs import PylotParameter
 from pylot.core.io.location import create_event, \
     create_magnitude
 from pylot.core.pick.utils import select_for_phase, get_quality_class
-from pylot.core.util.utils import getOwner, full_range, four_digits, transformFilterString4Export, \
+from pylot.core.util.utils import get_owner, full_range, four_digits, transformFilterString4Export, \
     backtransformFilterString, loopIdentifyPhase, identifyPhase
 
 
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ def readPILOTEvent(phasfn=None, locfn=None, authority_id='RUB', **kwargs):
     if phasfn is not None and os.path.isfile(phasfn):
         phases = sio.loadmat(phasfn)
         phasctime = UTCDateTime(os.path.getmtime(phasfn))
-        phasauthor = getOwner(phasfn)
+        phasauthor = get_owner(phasfn)
     else:
         phases = None
         phasctime = None
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ def readPILOTEvent(phasfn=None, locfn=None, authority_id='RUB', **kwargs):
     if locfn is not None and os.path.isfile(locfn):
         loc = sio.loadmat(locfn)
         locctime = UTCDateTime(os.path.getmtime(locfn))
-        locauthor = getOwner(locfn)
+        locauthor = get_owner(locfn)
     else:
         loc = None
         locctime = None
diff --git a/pylot/core/util/utils.py b/pylot/core/util/utils.py
index f0342276..ede30ab6 100644
--- a/pylot/core/util/utils.py
+++ b/pylot/core/util/utils.py
@@ -301,7 +301,7 @@ def fnConstructor(s):
     if type(s) is str:
         s = s.split(':')[-1]
     else:
-        s = getHash(UTCDateTime())
+        s = get_hash(UTCDateTime())
 
     badchars = re.compile(r'[^A-Za-z0-9_. ]+|^\.|\.$|^ | $|^$')
     badsuffix = re.compile(r'(aux|com[1-9]|con|lpt[1-9]|prn)(\.|$)')
@@ -473,16 +473,25 @@ def backtransformFilterString(st):
     return st
 
 
-def getHash(time):
+def get_hash(time):
     """
     takes a time object and returns the corresponding SHA1 hash of the formatted date string
     :param time: time object for which a hash should be calculated
     :type time: `~obspy.core.utcdatetime.UTCDateTime`
     :return: SHA1 hash
     :rtype: str
+
+    >>> time = UTCDateTime(0)
+    >>> get_hash(time)
+    '7627cce3b1b58dd21b005dac008b34d18317dd15'
+    >>> get_hash(0)
+    Traceback (most recent call last):
+    ...
+    AssertionError: 'time' is not an ObsPy UTCDateTime object
     """
+    assert isinstance(time, UTCDateTime), '\'time\' is not an ObsPy UTCDateTime object'
     hg = hashlib.sha1()
-    hg.update(time.strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S.%f'))
+    hg.update(time.strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S.%f').encode('utf-8'))
     return hg.hexdigest()
 
 
@@ -496,13 +505,21 @@ def getLogin():
     return getpass.getuser()
 
 
-def getOwner(fn):
+def get_owner(fn):
     """
     takes a filename and return the login ID of the actual owner of the file
     :param fn: filename of the file tested
     :type fn: str
     :return: login ID of the file's owner
     :rtype: str
+
+    >>> import tempfile
+    >>> with tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile() as tmpfile:
+    ...     tmpfile.write(b'') and True
+    ...     tmpfile.flush()
+    ...     get_owner(tmpfile.name) == os.path.expanduser('~').split('/')[-1]
+    0
+    True
     """
     system_name = platform.system()
     if system_name in ["Linux", "Darwin"]: