if you have a linux box and a broadband connection running on your home network, you can have secure browsing using an ssh tunnel to establish an http tunnel over the ssh connection to avoid clear text transmission completely. Here is a quick list of what is needed:
-dynamic dns
-sshd & squid running on a server (linux, osx, or cygwin)
-home router w/ a port forward (to the server)
Set up dyndns (or whatever dynamic dns you like) and run the client on the server. Configure squid so the localhost port is listening, a good example:
http://www.howtoforge.com/linux_secure_browsing_squid
I prefer to change sshd_config and add a second sshd port other than "22" like 2080 or whatever.
Set up the port forward for the alt port on the router to the server.
Then when you are at a public hotspot, just "ssh -L 8080:squidhost:8080 username@squidhost" and set up your browser to use the localhost:8080 port and all your web traffic is going through the secure tunnel!
If you dont want or have a home server you can always use tor / privoxy, although I have found it a bit slow...
http://tor.eff.org/overview.html.en
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