Here's the deal.  I like to use WiFi when I'm out and about.  There are tons of open nodes and they are easy to connect to in seconds.  There are plenty of pay for access locations as well, and I've used them.

The problem is that all of the open WiFi connections I have seen are insecure in the fact that the data passes through the air in the clear.  Any kind of wireless sniffer can snatch passwords, http info, and IM messages out of the air easily.  I've done it myself an it's child play.

What I want is a secure path from me to the access point so I can connect in relative safety.  The only way I can see to do this is to connect to the Access Point in the clear, then connect to a remote project of some sort that establishes an SSH or VPN tunnel that my traffic can pass though.

If something like this can be arranged with a Linksys or D-link router, I can securely check email and the web through my own DSL connection.

Here's a sketch of how I think it might work.
There are various consumer grade VPN routers I can buy that allow me to attach to my own network securely.

The real trick is getting the VPN Router to act as a proxy and pass my requests out to the net
and back to me through the secure tunnel.

Anyone got an idea?