How to contribute on github anonymously via Tor?

Greg Manitoba picture Greg Manitoba · Apr 23, 2012 · Viewed 13.5k times · Source

I would like to contribute anonymously to projects on github. Not to cause mischief, more in the spirit of anonymous donations.

The tool of choice for being anonymous online seems to be TOR, which works well for almost anything you can do in a browser. However, to contribute on github, it appears necessary to use the command line interface, or the Mac app.

How can I channel my git operations in this setup through Tor? And how can I verify that this is actually what is happening?

Edit: please note the difference between pseudonymous (with a fake e-mail address) and anonymous (with an IP address that cannot be associated with an identity). Pseudonymous access to github is trivial; however, I am looking for anonymous access.

Answer

Wander Nauta picture Wander Nauta · Apr 23, 2012

Have you considered going the old-fashioned 'mail them a patch' route? You could simply check out the repository (using Tor and Git-over-HTTPS if you want), make your improvements, then do a git diff and send the project owners the patch using any anonymous messaging service. Freenet and postal mail come to mind.

Note that if I were the owner of a large(ish) project, I would never ever accept a patch from an anonymous entity, for a few reasons. Even if the person in question isn't necessarily nefarious, having code in the system that nobody is responsible for is a scary thought at best. Also, think about code ownership and copyright troubles.