Re: public APs

"Don Y" <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> wrote in message news:vv624s$e8eb$1@dont-email.me...

I seldom use public wifi.  But, had the occasion to TRY to do so
at a local library branch.
>
Dismayed to find no HTTPS support; they apparently have an
"agent" interposed between all network accesses.

It may be that the agent doesn't interfere with accesses for all traffic, just https.
I'd try a remote desktop connection to my computer at home and use that if it works (I've yet to find a location where it didn't).
I might need to whitelist the library's public IP range in my own firewall, which I'd do if I used that library often.

>
Is this common?  I.e., how do people do banking or other
"secure" transactions?  Or, do they just use them to
"check pricing" at other stores?
>

Any library I've been to recently has a captive portal followed by an Internet service no different from what I get at home.