Google mangling browser history?

I was looking for something in Safari’s browser history–can’t remember what–and found a lot of noise and very little signal.

History? What history?

After I realized my browser history was gummed up with unsearchable gibberish, I found Google product manager Evelyn Kao’s article trying to explain how the search engine is “Making search more secure.” She wrote,

we recognize the growing importance of protecting the personalized search results we deliver. As a result, we’re enhancing our default search experience for signed-in users.

A little more digging led to Drew Olanoff’s brief article on The Next Web about the “enhancements”.

If you’re signed out, you’ll be directed to the regular unencrypted version of Google search.

It appears that registered users such as myself are penalized for searching while logged into their Google account. I guess I’ll either remember to log out or find a new search engine.