Your key takeaways align with mine, but FYI: > the browser speaks HTTPS to my router, and my router speaks HTTPS to the servers Usually this isn't the case. B

Your key takeaways align with mine, but FYI: > the browser speaks HTTPS to my router, and my router speaks HTTPS to the servers Usually this isn't the case. Browsers that aren't configured to use a proxy connect directly to some web server using TCP and as speak HTTP to it. On a lower level, it's being facilitated by IP traffic routed by your own router, the ISP and the Internet. There are "Forward" HTTP proxies (e.g. software like Squid) that act like HTTP clients on the web and provide the real user with results. I suppose they're being set up at large organizations by IT, or at home by privacy geeks but I know no consumer router that does that out of the box.