diff --git a/app/models/user.rb b/app/models/user.rb
index 535577fd3a493d082f652cae87b8750a3305b9b0..d89b8b59ad558a66a5f7e4c047205dc351f28064 100644
--- a/app/models/user.rb
+++ b/app/models/user.rb
@@ -291,10 +291,4 @@ class User
     OpenSSL::PKey::RSA.new( serialized_private_key )
   end
 
-  def encryption_key= new_key
-    raise TypeError unless new_key.class == OpenSSL::PKey::RSA
-    serialized_private_key = new_key.export
-  end
-
-
 end
diff --git a/spec/factories.rb b/spec/factories.rb
index 826ca970d826cc2f78917a8b0b8fd71550d9e29c..9f8efc4c3fce7821b4d3d84bdfda306a6fbe805b 100644
--- a/spec/factories.rb
+++ b/spec/factories.rb
@@ -25,10 +25,6 @@ Factory.define :album do |p|
   p.person { |a| Factory.create(:person) }
 end
 
-Factory.define :person_with_private_key, :parent => :person do |p|
-  p.serialized_key OpenSSL::PKey::RSA.generate(1024).export
-end
-
 Factory.define :user do |u|
   u.sequence(:username) {|n| "bob#{n}"}
   u.sequence(:email) {|n| "bob#{n}@pivotallabs.com"}