[Spooky23]

The library has an obligation to make a good faith effort to meet whatever compliance requirements that they are faced with. That's it. It isn't a bank or military installation.

If the original poster brings in an air card, and starts watching porn with the volume cranked up, the library doesn't have a right or obligation to jam the cellular network. They do whatever their policy calls for (usually ask the guy to leave).

Librarians are very rarely the problem -- the trustees or other governing body usually is. Make a fuss and in most cases the problems will go away. YMMV depending on the community, of course.

[luxpir]

Cheers for your thoughts. I suspect the UK public library authority I would have to appeal to would have zero motivation to help with SSH access, unfortunately. I imagine it has been blocked for a specific reason, probably some previous or expected abuse, as you've both mentioned.

The SSH over SSL solutions others have pointed out may do the trick for now.