Here’s some great advice from IT veteran Steve Borsch on protecting yourself when connecting to the Internet from public locations. “Security is an issue other than just at home…but it’s an underreported problem in internet cafes or public places tha…

http://cheeseheadtech.blogspot.com/2007/08/itunes-security-problem.html

One problem example is Typepad. The member login is NOT a secure https login so *if* I were to put in my username and password it could be captured over the air…unless I was doing the following:

I used to use Anonymizer’s SSH solution (sets up a secure tunnel so everything from my laptop to the router and over the internet is encrypted) but it’s no longer offered for the Mac. Now when I need to I’ll use AnchorFree’s Hotspot Shield (it’s free but slow) or WiTopia’s (for my wife when she travels since they’re pretty fast, cheap at $39.95 per year, and their servers don’t take much of an overhead ‘hit’ like most VPN’s — especially free ones — usually do).

Lastly, I’m seriously considering Boingo Wireless at $39.95 per month and share the account with my wife. That way we can both use the secure software, have an account for roaming worldwide, and get one of their free stickers.