diff --git a/bytea.go b/bytea.go
index 9d2e20f3..a8ee55ae 100644
--- a/bytea.go
+++ b/bytea.go
@@ -106,7 +106,10 @@ func (dst *Bytea) DecodeBinary(src []byte) error {
 		return nil
 	}
 
-	*dst = Bytea{Bytes: src, Status: Present}
+	buf := make([]byte, len(src))
+	copy(buf, src)
+
+	*dst = Bytea{Bytes: buf, Status: Present}
 	return nil
 }
 
diff --git a/pgtype.go b/pgtype.go
index 5a51172e..7b1470b7 100644
--- a/pgtype.go
+++ b/pgtype.go
@@ -80,10 +80,16 @@ type Value interface {
 }
 
 type BinaryDecoder interface {
+	// DecodeBinary decodes src into BinaryDecoder. If src is nil then the
+	// original SQL value is NULL. BinaryDecoder MUST not retain a reference to
+	// src. It MUST make a copy if it needs to retain the raw bytes.
 	DecodeBinary(src []byte) error
 }
 
 type TextDecoder interface {
+	// DecodeText decodes src into TextDecoder. If src is nil then the original
+	// SQL value is NULL. TextDecoder MUST not retain a reference to src. It MUST
+	// make a copy if it needs to retain the raw bytes.
 	DecodeText(src []byte) error
 }