diff --git a/src/DOM.cpp b/src/DOM.cpp
index eec38c57f..53f59b00b 100644
--- a/src/DOM.cpp
+++ b/src/DOM.cpp
@@ -246,13 +246,13 @@ bool getDOM (const std::string& name, const Task& task, Variant& value)
     return false;
 
   // Quickly deal with the most common cases.
-  if (task.data.size () && name == "id")
+  if (task.data_removeme ().size () && name == "id")
   {
     value = Variant (static_cast<int> (task.id));
     return true;
   }
 
-  if (task.data.size () && name == "urgency")
+  if (task.data_removeme ().size () && name == "urgency")
   {
     value = Variant (task.urgency_c ());
     return true;
@@ -318,13 +318,13 @@ bool getDOM (const std::string& name, const Task& task, Variant& value)
   {
     // Now that 'ref' is the contextual task, and any ID/UUID is chopped off the
     // elements vector, DOM resolution is now simple.
-    if (ref.data.size () && size == 1 && canonical == "id")
+    if (ref.data_removeme ().size () && size == 1 && canonical == "id")
     {
       value = Variant (static_cast<int> (ref.id));
       return true;
     }
 
-    if (ref.data.size () && size == 1 && canonical == "urgency")
+    if (ref.data_removeme ().size () && size == 1 && canonical == "urgency")
     {
       value = Variant (ref.urgency_c ());
       return true;
@@ -332,7 +332,7 @@ bool getDOM (const std::string& name, const Task& task, Variant& value)
 
     // Special handling of status required for virtual waiting status
     // implementation. Remove in 3.0.0.
-    if (ref.data.size () && size == 1 && canonical == "status")
+    if (ref.data_removeme ().size () && size == 1 && canonical == "status")
     {
       value = Variant (ref.statusToText (ref.getStatus ()));
       return true;
@@ -340,7 +340,7 @@ bool getDOM (const std::string& name, const Task& task, Variant& value)
 
     Column* column = Context::getContext ().columns[canonical];
 
-    if (ref.data.size () && size == 1 && column)
+    if (ref.data_removeme ().size () && size == 1 && column)
     {
       if (column->is_uda () && ! ref.has (canonical))
       {
@@ -375,13 +375,13 @@ bool getDOM (const std::string& name, const Task& task, Variant& value)
       return true;
     }
 
-    if (ref.data.size () && size == 2 && canonical == "tags")
+    if (ref.data_removeme ().size () && size == 2 && canonical == "tags")
     {
       value = Variant (ref.hasTag (elements[1]) ? elements[1] : "");
       return true;
     }
 
-    if (ref.data.size () && size == 2 && column && column->type () == "date")
+    if (ref.data_removeme ().size () && size == 2 && column && column->type () == "date")
     {
       Datetime date (ref.get_date (canonical));
            if (elements[1] == "year")    { value = Variant (static_cast<int> (date.year ()));      return true; }
@@ -396,13 +396,13 @@ bool getDOM (const std::string& name, const Task& task, Variant& value)
     }
   }
 
-  if (ref.data.size () && size == 2 && elements[0] == "annotations" && elements[1] == "count")
+  if (ref.data_removeme ().size () && size == 2 && elements[0] == "annotations" && elements[1] == "count")
   {
     value = Variant (static_cast<int> (ref.getAnnotationCount ()));
     return true;
   }
 
-  if (ref.data.size () && size == 3 && elements[0] == "annotations")
+  if (ref.data_removeme ().size () && size == 3 && elements[0] == "annotations")
   {
     auto annos = ref.getAnnotations ();
 
@@ -430,7 +430,7 @@ bool getDOM (const std::string& name, const Task& task, Variant& value)
     }
   }
 
-  if (ref.data.size () && size == 4 && elements[0] == "annotations" && elements[2] == "entry")
+  if (ref.data_removeme ().size () && size == 4 && elements[0] == "annotations" && elements[2] == "entry")
   {
     auto annos = ref.getAnnotations ();
 
diff --git a/src/TDB2.cpp b/src/TDB2.cpp
index 884dc0f45..be3d7d83c 100644
--- a/src/TDB2.cpp
+++ b/src/TDB2.cpp
@@ -1048,11 +1048,11 @@ void TDB2::show_diff (
       Task before (prior);
 
       std::vector <std::string> beforeAtts;
-      for (auto& att : before.data)
+      for (auto& att : before.data_removeme ())
         beforeAtts.push_back (att.first);
 
       std::vector <std::string> afterAtts;
-      for (auto& att : after.data)
+      for (auto& att : after.data_removeme ())
         afterAtts.push_back (att.first);
 
       std::vector <std::string> beforeOnly;
@@ -1067,7 +1067,7 @@ void TDB2::show_diff (
         view.set (row, 1, renderAttribute (name, before.get (name)), color_red);
       }
 
-      for (auto& att : before.data)
+      for (auto& att : before.data_removeme ())
       {
         std::string priorValue   = before.get (att.first);
         std::string currentValue = after.get  (att.first);
@@ -1093,7 +1093,7 @@ void TDB2::show_diff (
     else
     {
       int row;
-      for (auto& att : after.data)
+      for (auto& att : after.data_removeme ())
       {
         row = view.addRow ();
         view.set (row, 0, att.first);
@@ -1151,11 +1151,11 @@ void TDB2::show_diff (
     std::vector <std::string> all = Context::getContext ().getColumns ();
 
     // Now factor in the annotation attributes.
-    for (auto& it : before.data)
+    for (auto& it : before.data_removeme ())
       if (it.first.substr (0, 11) == "annotation_")
         all.push_back (it.first);
 
-    for (auto& it : after.data)
+    for (auto& it : after.data_removeme ())
       if (it.first.substr (0, 11) == "annotation_")
         all.push_back (it.first);
 
diff --git a/src/Task.h b/src/Task.h
index a438e0c93..120c89c23 100644
--- a/src/Task.h
+++ b/src/Task.h
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ public:
   enum dateState {dateNotDue, dateAfterToday, dateLaterToday, dateEarlierToday, dateBeforeToday};
 
   // Public data.
-  std::map <std::string, std::string> data {};
+  const std::map <std::string, std::string> &data_removeme () const { return data; };
   int id                                   {0};
   float urgency_value                      {0.0};
   bool recalc_urgency                      {true};
@@ -187,6 +187,9 @@ private:
   void fixDependsAttribute ();
   void fixTagsAttribute ();
 
+protected:
+  std::map <std::string, std::string> data {};
+
 public:
   float urgency_project     () const;
   float urgency_active      () const;
diff --git a/src/commands/CmdDenotate.cpp b/src/commands/CmdDenotate.cpp
index 8237bf28d..e2ea1e788 100644
--- a/src/commands/CmdDenotate.cpp
+++ b/src/commands/CmdDenotate.cpp
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ int CmdDenotate::execute (std::string&)
       }
     }
 
-    if (before.data != task.data)
+    if (before.data_removeme () != task.data_removeme ())
     {
       auto question = format ("Denotate task {1} '{2}'?",
                               task.identifier (true),
diff --git a/src/commands/CmdImport.cpp b/src/commands/CmdImport.cpp
index 3e4540db1..f473a0fbf 100644
--- a/src/commands/CmdImport.cpp
+++ b/src/commands/CmdImport.cpp
@@ -198,7 +198,7 @@ void CmdImport::importSingleTask (json::object* obj)
     if (hasGeneratedEnd)
       task.set ("end", before.get ("end"));
 
-    if (before.data != task.data)
+    if (before.data_removeme() != task.data_removeme())
     {
       CmdModify modHelper;
       modHelper.checkConsistency (before, task);
diff --git a/src/commands/CmdModify.cpp b/src/commands/CmdModify.cpp
index fedbf8a74..eae2ae995 100644
--- a/src/commands/CmdModify.cpp
+++ b/src/commands/CmdModify.cpp
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ int CmdModify::execute (std::string&)
     Task before (task);
     task.modify (Task::modReplace);
 
-    if (before.data != task.data)
+    if (before.data_removeme () != task.data_removeme ())
     {
       // Abort if change introduces inconsistencies.
       checkConsistency(before, task);
diff --git a/src/commands/CmdUDAs.cpp b/src/commands/CmdUDAs.cpp
index eaa8dc03e..048c41e59 100644
--- a/src/commands/CmdUDAs.cpp
+++ b/src/commands/CmdUDAs.cpp
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ int CmdUDAs::execute (std::string& output)
   std::map <std::string, int> orphans;
   for (auto& i : filtered)
   {
-    for (auto& att : i.data)
+    for (auto& att : i.data_removeme ())
       if (! Task::isAnnotationAttr (att.first) &&
           ! Task::isTagAttr (att.first) &&
           ! Task::isDepAttr (att.first) &&
diff --git a/src/rules.cpp b/src/rules.cpp
index 058a14787..038fe73a4 100644
--- a/src/rules.cpp
+++ b/src/rules.cpp
@@ -189,7 +189,7 @@ static void colorizeKeyword (Task& task, const std::string& rule, const Color& b
   // first match.
   else
   {
-    for (const auto& att : task.data)
+    for (const auto& att : task.data_removeme ())
     {
       if (! att.first.compare (0, 11, "annotation_", 11) &&
           find (att.second, rule.substr (14), sensitive) != std::string::npos)
diff --git a/test/t.t.cpp b/test/t.t.cpp
index 197bef959..ace646244 100644
--- a/test/t.t.cpp
+++ b/test/t.t.cpp
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@ TODO Task::decode
   test.is (task.get ("three"), "four", "three=four");
 
   // Task::set
-  task.data.clear ();
+  task = Task();
   task.set ("name", "value");
   test.is (task.composeF4 (), "[name:\"value\"]", "Task::set");
 
@@ -211,7 +211,7 @@ TODO Task::decode
   test.is (task.composeF4 (), "[name:\"value\"]", "Task::remove");
 
   // Task::all
-  test.is (task.data.size (), (size_t)1, "Task::all size");
+  test.is (task.data_removeme ().size (), (size_t)1, "Task::all size");
 
   ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 
diff --git a/test/util.t.cpp b/test/util.t.cpp
index ad9e7d3b7..6f554f3f6 100644
--- a/test/util.t.cpp
+++ b/test/util.t.cpp
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ int main (int, char**)
   Task rightAgain (right);
 
   std::string output = left.diff (right);
-  t.ok (left.data != right.data,                                                              "Detected changes");
+  t.ok (!(left == right),                                                           "Detected changes");
   t.ok (output.find ("Zero will be changed from '0' to '00'") != std::string::npos, "Detected change zero:0 -> zero:00");
   t.ok (output.find ("One will be deleted")                   != std::string::npos, "Detected deletion one:1 ->");
   t.ok (output.find ("Two")                                   == std::string::npos, "Detected no change two:2 -> two:2");