diff --git a/src/Conn.cc b/src/Conn.cc
index 36d45dd3b2..1c9a6247f4 100644
--- a/src/Conn.cc
+++ b/src/Conn.cc
@@ -273,8 +273,12 @@ const RecordValPtr& Connection::GetVal()
 	conn_val->AssignTime(3, start_time); // ###
 	conn_val->AssignInterval(4, last_time - start_time);
 
-	if ( history.size() )
-		conn_val->Assign(6, history);
+	if ( ! history.empty() )
+		{
+		auto v = conn_val->GetFieldAs<StringVal>(6);
+		if ( *v != history )
+			conn_val->Assign(6, history);
+		}
 
 	conn_val->SetOrigin(this);
 
diff --git a/src/ZeekString.cc b/src/ZeekString.cc
index d59c58ff24..3161cd2ef8 100644
--- a/src/ZeekString.cc
+++ b/src/ZeekString.cc
@@ -115,6 +115,11 @@ bool String::operator==(std::string_view s) const
 	return (memcmp(b, s.data(), n) == 0);
 	}
 
+bool String::operator!=(std::string_view s) const
+	{
+	return ! (*this == s);
+	}
+
 void String::Adopt(byte_vec bytes, int len)
 	{
 	Reset();
diff --git a/src/ZeekString.h b/src/ZeekString.h
index e92574c2ec..1d129e0411 100644
--- a/src/ZeekString.h
+++ b/src/ZeekString.h
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ public:
 	bool operator==(const String& bs) const;
 	bool operator<(const String& bs) const;
 	bool operator==(std::string_view s) const;
+	bool operator!=(std::string_view s) const;
 
 	byte_vec Bytes() const { return b; }
 	int Len() const { return n; }