Pidgin IM - OTR and/or P-E?

I've been using both the "Off-the-record messaging", and "Pidgin-Encryption" plugins for Pidgin Messenger. But now I'm starting to think that it's overlap, and even worse, that they could be conflicting with each other and actually decreasing my security.

So should I be using both? If not, it seems to me that OTR is better since it can protect you even if keys are compromised.

I thought that P-E was more just a convenient way to store keys from other people, so that I wouldn't have to accept them every time. But will OTR do that for me too?

Also, a friend of mine uses OSX, so they're using Adium instead. From what I read it supposedly has OTR integrated into it? Is this true? And if so, is it the exact same thing that's in Pidgin as a plugin? Will the two play nicely together?

I appreciate any insight here...

 

Well I answered my own question (the main point anyway). If you're using Pidgin on a Windows OS and trying to talk to someone using Adium on a MAC running OSX (which has a generic form of OTR integrated into it)... using Pidgin-Encryption in addition to OTR can indeed create a conflict.

But it seemed to work fine when talking to other people that used Pidgin.

So I've removed Pidgin-Encryption. Now me and my buddy with Adium and OSX can play nicely together with end-to-end encryption in place.

I'd still be interested in knowing, however, if there's any real benefit to using both... assuming both parties are using Pidgin. Or if it's sheer overlap and utterly pointless.

 

Always wondered this myself. I use both too.

Has Pidgen implemented Skype chat yet? It's been awhile since I used it.

 

Nope... no Skype.

And it seems to me the two are indeed overlap, and that given the choice OTR is better. But it doesn't seem to create any conflict either if both parties are using Pidgin.

It was however causing a conflict with a user with Adium on OSX. Really Adium on OSX & Pidgin on a PC don't play that well together period. From what my friend was telling me through chat the integrated OTR in Adium is very vague & generic. There wasn't even any configuration/options for it. Only a toggle to enable/disable it. Then again she's not an advanced user... who knows. I've never personally used Adium. Could have easily all been pure user error, lol. I'm trying to authenticate with a shared question, only it won't send to Adium because it lacks that functionality. So I disregard that and just verify her footprint. And whenever one of us would lock that padlock symbol it would lock the other out instead of encrypting end to end. But after axing P-E and making a few more tweaks, we ultimately prevailed. Just your typical ordeal trying to get a PC and a MAC to play together. I swear they make it a PITA on purpose...

and btw, if you weren't aware there's a semi-new update to OTR... version 4. Actually it's been out for awhile now but I just noticed it when I was going through all this stuff. Many improvements over v3. My advice would be to use that and only that. I'm afraid using both could be creating a conflict, even if it doesn't show, and decreasing security in the end.