>>949
Q: Can a UTF-8 data stream contain the BOM character (in UTF-8 form)?
　　If yes, then can I still assume the remaining UTF-8 bytes are in big-endian order?

A: Yes, UTF-8 can contain a BOM.
　　However, it makes no difference as to the endianness of the byte stream.
　　UTF-8 always has the same byte order. An initial BOM is only used as a signature
　　 ? an indication that an otherwise unmarked text file is in UTF-8.
　　Note that some recipients of UTF-8 encoded data do not expect a BOM.
　　Where UTF-8 is used transparently in 8-bit environments,
　　the use of a BOM will interfere with any protocol or file format that expects specific
　　ASCII characters at the beginning, such as the use of "#!" of at the beginning of Unix shell scripts. [AF] & [MD]