diff --git a/www/conservancy/__init__.py b/www/conservancy/__init__.py
index 28f44d49592182aca58ca1bb766d3dad3087a5ea..a80a32eac390c89fda5d5428739282fc6f3602d6 100644
--- a/www/conservancy/__init__.py
+++ b/www/conservancy/__init__.py
@@ -4,24 +4,45 @@ from django.conf import settings
 from django.shortcuts import render_to_response
 from django.template import RequestContext
 
-HASH_ENCODING = 'utf-8'
+class ParameterValidator(object):
+    def __init__(self, given_hash_or_params, params_hash_key=None):
+        if params_hash_key is None:
+            self.given_hash = given_hash_or_params
+        else:
+            self.given_hash = given_hash_or_params.get(params_hash_key)
+        seed = getattr(settings, 'CONSERVANCY_SECRET_KEY', '')
+        self.hasher = hashlib.sha256(seed)
+        if isinstance(self.given_hash, basestring):
+            self.hash_type = type(self.given_hash)
+        else:
+            self.hash_type = type(self.hasher.hexdigest())
+        self.valid = None
+        if not (self.given_hash and seed):
+            self.fail()
+
+    def __enter__(self):
+        self.valid = self.valid and None
+        return self
+
+    def __exit__(self, exc_type, exc_value, exc_tb):
+        if exc_type is None:
+            self.check()
+        else:
+            self.fail()
+
+    def validate(self, data):
+        self.valid = self.valid and None
+        self.hasher.update(data)
+
+    def check(self):
+        if self.valid or (self.valid is None):
+            self.valid = self.hash_type(self.hasher.hexdigest()) == self.given_hash
+        return self.valid
+
+    def fail(self):
+        self.valid = False
+
 
 def render_template_with_context(request, template_path, context_dict):
     return render_to_response(template_path, context_dict,
                               context_instance=RequestContext(request))
-
-def param_if_valid(params, param_name, hash_param_name, default=None):
-    try:
-        seed = settings.CONSERVANCY_SECRET_KEY
-        param_value = params[param_name]
-        param_bytes = param_value.encode(HASH_ENCODING)
-        given_hash = params[hash_param_name]
-    except (AttributeError, KeyError, UnicodeEncodeError):
-        return default
-    good_hash = hashlib.sha256()
-    good_hash.update(seed)
-    good_hash.update(param_bytes)
-    if given_hash == unicode(good_hash.hexdigest()):
-        return param_value
-    else:
-        return default