Last month, the BBC announced plans to force iPlayer users to sign into their account in order to watch the catch-up service. The requirement is now rolling out, and this means that the option to skip sign-in is starting to vanish.

Visitors to the site are now greeted by a message that reads: "You now need to sign in to watch. It's quick & easy. And we'll keep you signed in." Without following the instruction to sign in -- which gives the BBC the opportunity to check for a valid TV license -- it is not possible to watch any programming.

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ProtonMail has opened up its free VPN service to anyone who wants to use it. ProtonVPN was previously only available to a limited number of beta testers, but now everyone can secure their internet connection for free.

The company is best known for its encrypted email service, but the prospect of a free VPN tool will also be enticing to anyone who has concerns about privacy. It also provides a free way of bypassing internet restrictions that may be put in place by governments or ISPs.

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Late last year Mozilla launched a private browser for iOS called Firefox Focus. Now the browser arrives on Android bringing the same privacy-focused internet experience to users of Google's mobile operating system.

When Mozilla talks about being privacy-focused, it does not just mean using Private Browsing. Firefox Focus is a completely separate browser which blocks trackers, analytics and ads, and also wipes your browsing history with a single tap. As well as improving privacy, Focus also speeds up web browsing and reduces data usage.

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Back in March, Google was hit by criticism after it was discovered that its Restricted Mode filtered out many videos with LGBTQ content. A month later the company announced that it had fixed the problem that led to videos being "incorrectly filtered" and now, to coincide with Pride month, Google has revealed policy updates to Restricted Mode.

Google says that it has worked with LGBTQ creators and YouTube employees and will now explicitly allow content that was previously blocked, to be seen in Restricted Mode -- hoping to quieten any shouts of "censorship." The new policies mean that content such as "kissing at weddings, personal accounts of difficult events, and speaking out against discrimination" should no longer be caught in the net.

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With its latest redesign, many people are complaining that Twitter has stepped back in time. If you are not a fan of the "circles and curves everywhere" look, you can -- with a little help -- avoid the redesign and stick with the way things were.

There's just one catch -- you have to be using Chrome. If this is already your web browser of choice, all you need to do is to install an extension built specifically to "remove Twitter's 'bubbly' redesign."

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Wikileaks has released a batch of documents from the middle of 2012 revealing details of the CIA's CherryBlossom project. A joint venture with the Stanford Research Institute, the CherryBlossom files show how the agency can take remote control of routers and other networking devices from numerous manufacturers, transforming them into listening devices.

CherryBlossom also enables the CIA to interfere with both incoming and outgoing traffic. Passwords present little obstacle in many cases and the fact that remote infection is possible makes the implant very simple to install. The documents reveal how the CIA can home in on a target using information such as MAC address, email address, or even chat handles.

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It has been a while since Twitter was treated to a new lick of paint, but that all changes today. A new look is rolling out, and "round" is the word that springs most readily to mind.

Think back to the look of the web around 15 years ago -- all rounded corners and the like -- and you're in the right ballpark. Online there are not only rounded buttons and round profile pictures, but also redesigned, wireframe icons. Mobile users are also treated to a new look.

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Today marks the 30th anniversary of the GIF. The humble file format has -- after protracted arguments about how to pronounce the word -- come a long way. After years irritating people in the format of flashing animated ads, the images are now used to adorn messages with pithy memes and pertinent video clips.

GIFs in their current incarnation are supported by messaging tools and social platforms left, right and center, and after including a dedicated GIF button in Facebook Messenger, the social network is now rolling out the same feature in comments.

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Later this month -- June 28 specifically -- Google is to launch a new tool: Backup and Sync. Aimed primarily at consumers, the tool is designed to backup files and photos, and make them accessible from any device.

Backup and Sync is described as "the latest version of Google Drive for Mac/PC, which is now integrated with the Google Photos desktop uploader," and for most users it will completely replace Drive. Corporate and enterprise users are advised to hold out until the release of Drive File Stream later in the year, but for everyone else, Backup and Sync opens up the possibility of automatically backing up entire hard drives.

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5G networks will need to be more flexible than ever before in order to cope with a huge surge in connectivity, according to one of the UK’s top experts.

Professor Rahim Tafazolli, director of the 5G innovation center at the University of Surrey, has urged technology providers to work together to ensure the networks will be ready in time.

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Facebook's Safety Check feature has become one of the easiest ways of checking up on loved ones when disaster strikes. It also gives people in the affected area the opportunity to let friends and family know that they're OK, and today Facebook is adding a number of new options, including fundraising.

Starting off in the US, people will now be able to start a fundraiser from within Safety Check to help raise money for those in need. These can be for personal or charitable causes, and the feature makes it easy for others to make donations. There are also other changes that make Safety Check more useful.

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The negative attention that Kodi has been attracting recently continues. A number of high-profile add-ons, such as Phoenix, have disappeared recently as interest in the piracy potential for the media player increases.

The latest victim appears to be TVAddons, a site which lists unofficial Kodi add-ons. The site was sued last week in a federal court in Texas, so the disappearance is not entirely surprising. But the removal of DNS records -- rendering the site inaccessible -- without any explanation is a little strange.

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In case you haven't been following the news about 23-year-old Internet company acquisitions, Verizon announced 11 months ago that it had entered into an agreement to buy Yahoo for $4.83 billion. That deal, with some modifications, was officially approved and finalized yesterday, and it is expected to be completely closed on June 13.

When that happens, the telecommunications giant plans to combine those newly acquired assets with AOL, which it also owns, into a new media conglomerate. And of course, when you hear the word "combine," the next word you'll hear is "layoffs."

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Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act -- the legislation used to permit the NSA to conduct online surveillance -- is due to expire at the end of the year. We have already seen a number of the big names from the world of technology calling for a number of changes during reform.

As part of the reform, officials had promised that they would reveal broad details about the number of American citizens about whom information has been, and is, collected. This is no longer the case. The Director of National Intelligence has performed a u-turn on the promise.

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Creating add-ons for multiple web browsers can be a nightmare for developers, but Mozilla wants to simplify things. By introducing WebExtensions APIs it is going to become much easier to make extensions that work in multiple web browsers with only minor changes.

Based on HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, the aim is to further standardize the APIs to make it even easier to share extensions between browsers. Mozilla is now pushing the technology in the hope that it will gain momentum and a growing following.

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