The second half of the year starts with exciting momentum for open-source and tech-for-good initiatives, fueled by a growing desire and public interest for more ethical, resilient and safer digital solutions. At the forefront of this shift are movements around decentralization, digital trust, privacy, and the development of more transparent, resilient infrastructure. This gives us great hope that a significant change may be underway!
Acter's July News is packed with opportunities, such a new partnerships and community-driven events. In this Newsletter we have;
📣 Open call: Acer Security Collective
🤝 Partnership announcement: Acter x HOST
📅 Event feature: Acter at Tech We Want
🎙️ Hack The System Podcast: New Episode!
📣 Open Call: Acter Security Collective
We’ve just launched the Acter Security Collective, a 3-month support and learning program for 10 movements looking to strengthen their digital safety and organizing infrastructure. This is a free opportunity for any movements navigating digital threats, surveillance, or simply wanting to divest from Big Tech.
The collective offers:
- Tailored onboarding and 1:1 support
- Digital security workshops (threat modeling, infrastructure independence, etc.)
- A trusted peer-learning circle
- Visibility and amplification
- A chance to directly shape Acter — our decentralized, encrypted organizing platform.
The deadline to apply is 27th of July.
If this sounds interesting to you, here is the application from. Feel free to share this opportunity to anyone that might be interested. Don't hesitate to reach out to us for questions at community@acter.global.
🤝 Exciting New Partnership: HOST x Acter
At a time when digital systems are under strain and civic space is increasingly under threat — strong, secure infrastructure is essential for movements to organise with confidence. That’s why we’re excited to announce our new partnership with HOST — a civil society infrastructure partner that provides expert Project Hosting services to movements working at the sharp edge of climate and social justice.
HOST supports activists and movements working in high-risk and complex contexts with light-touch or comprehensive wrap-around back-office services that keep movements safe, agile, and well-resourced. HOST can support you with:
📊 Finance & grant management
🏛️ Legal registration & secure operations
👥 HR & payroll services
🔒 Risk and safeguarding frameworks
🌍 Global operations infrastructure
Together, Acter and HOST are building the foundations for resilient, secure, and liberatory organising.
👉 Learn more about HOST at allyforaction.org
📩 Speak with their Community Support Team at support@allyforaction.org
✅ Or ready to go? Submit an Expression of Interest
📅 Catch Acter at The Tech People Want Online Summit
At The Tech People Want Online Summit 8 – 9 July 2025, the Open Knowledge Foundation (OKFN) is bringing together non-technical professionals – including data practitioners, communicators, project managers, and advocates – to rethink how technology supports our work in conversational sessions.
Acter will be holding a keynote session on 9th of July at 16:00 CEST, and we are really excited for the opportunity to share our insights with Open Knowledge communities from around the world. Join us to rethink how to amplify technology for social change!
The event is free of charge and open to everyone and we encourage everyone to join who are interested in taking a critical look at current technologies.
📅 Dates – 8 – 9 July 2025
🕝 Time – 10:30 to 18:00 CEST (various sessions)
Register now and find more about the program here!
🎙️ Hack The System Podcast: Windows 11 update
In this episode, Acter's Community Lead, Jo is wondering why their computer urges to upgrade to Windows 11 and buy a new hardware.
What to do? And why even is this happening? The hardware works fine, why does Windows 11 need other hardware? And what if I can't afford or don't want to upgrade? Is it a problem if I just keep using my Windows 10? Aren't there any alternatives?
To help answer these question our host Jo, invited the CTO of Acter, Ben, to talk what's going on with Microsoft. Spoilers: there is an alternative to throwing money at Microsoft for you to continuing using your hardware – and it's even free. We'll briefly go into how to use that.
Listen to the episode here, or wherever you find your podcast!
As always, if you have any feedback to us, we would love to hear from you. You can reach out us community@acter.global.
Until next time!