Something similar happened with various other of Google's properties a while back — Google's use of intermediate redirector URLs that broke cut-and-paste. I'd

Something similar happened with various other of Google's properties a while back — Google's use of intermediate redirector URLs that broke cut-and-paste. I'd prefer to reference the destination URLs and wsites in the documentation and related materials I was creating, and the only way to do that with various Google web properties was to visit the destination site and cut and paste from the browser from there — otherwise I'd end up with a Google "link shortener" obfuscating the domain, and possibly also eventually interrupting the connection if (when?) Google decided to discontinue or update the redirector service. Further, this Google practice filled the browser history with intermediate URLs, which rendered the browser history far less useful. I would not expect Google to stop these behaviors, though. Switch search engines. Vote with your clicks and with the data you (don't) expose to Google.