[OTR-users] private key for multiple accounts

[Ian Goldberg]

On Thu, Jun 23, 2005 at 09:19:06PM +0200, Olivier Schwander wrote:
> Hello,
> Why the private key is different for each account?
> It should be easier for public key and fingerprint sharing to use a
> single key for all accounts.
> Is there a security reason to use different keys?

There is.  Some people have multiple IM accounts that they don't want it
to be obvious that they're actually the same person.  For example,
someone may have the accounts MarkFeltFBI and DeepThroat.  If the private
key was shared for all the user's accounts, it would be obvious that
they're the same person.  This way, they can be kept separate.  [Of
course, he'd likely have to use something like Tor as well, to hide his
IP.]

   - Ian