diff --git a/checks/raw/binary_artifact.go b/checks/raw/binary_artifact.go
index 15b61cf61f0..ea63aaa187a 100644
--- a/checks/raw/binary_artifact.go
+++ b/checks/raw/binary_artifact.go
@@ -16,12 +16,9 @@ package raw
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
-	"log"
-	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"regexp"
 	"strings"
-	"unicode"
 	"unicode/utf8"
 
 	semver "github.com/Masterminds/semver/v3"
@@ -158,12 +155,7 @@ var checkBinaryFileContent fileparser.DoWhileTrueOnFileContent = func(path strin
 	}
 
 	exists2 := binaryFileTypes[strings.ReplaceAll(filepath.Ext(path), ".", "")]
-	// TODO remove the comparison after testing in release-test worker
-	isTextFile := isText(content)
-	if _, enabled := os.LookupEnv("SCORECARD_COMPARE_ISTEXT"); enabled && isTextFile != isText2(content) {
-		log.Printf("isText implementations differ (raw.isText: %t) for file: %s", isTextFile, path)
-	}
-	if !isTextFile && exists2 {
+	if !isText(content) && exists2 {
 		*pfiles = append(*pfiles, checker.File{
 			Path:   path,
 			Type:   checker.FileTypeBinary,
@@ -174,22 +166,11 @@ var checkBinaryFileContent fileparser.DoWhileTrueOnFileContent = func(path strin
 	return true, nil
 }
 
-// TODO: refine this function.
-func isText(content []byte) bool {
-	for _, c := range string(content) {
-		if c == '\t' || c == '\n' || c == '\r' {
-			continue
-		}
-		if !unicode.IsPrint(c) {
-			return false
-		}
-	}
-	return true
-}
-
-// TODO decine between isText and isText2 after testing in release-test worker
-// modified version of golang.org/x/tools/godoc/util.
-func isText2(s []byte) bool {
+// determines if the first 1024 bytes are text
+//
+//	A version of golang.org/x/tools/godoc/util modified to allow carriage returns
+//	and utf8.RuneError (0xFFFD), as the file may not be utf8 encoded.
+func isText(s []byte) bool {
 	const max = 1024 // at least utf8.UTFMax
 	if len(s) > max {
 		s = s[0:max]
@@ -199,8 +180,8 @@ func isText2(s []byte) bool {
 			// last char may be incomplete - ignore
 			break
 		}
-		if c == 0xFFFD || c < ' ' && c != '\n' && c != '\t' && c != '\r' {
-			// decoding error or control character - not a text file
+		if c < ' ' && c != '\n' && c != '\t' && c != '\r' {
+			// control character - not a text file
 			return false
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/cron/k8s/worker.release.yaml b/cron/k8s/worker.release.yaml
index 335366eee95..2924ad3f490 100644
--- a/cron/k8s/worker.release.yaml
+++ b/cron/k8s/worker.release.yaml
@@ -44,8 +44,6 @@ spec:
               value: "10.4.4.210:80"
             - name: "SCORECARD_API_RESULTS_BUCKET_URL"
               value: "gs://ossf-scorecard-cron-releasetest-results"
-            - name: SCORECARD_COMPARE_ISTEXT
-              value: "1"
           resources:
             requests:
               memory: 5Gi