Private browsing hits another set-backWeb servers (that provide the web pages you view in your browser) collect a lot of information about the type of browser and its configuration as web pages are requested to be viewed.
Browsers (e.g. Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Safari, Chrome) 'leak' a lot of non-personal information that can be collected by web sites. This information (say screen resolution, type of plug-ins the browser has loaded etc) does not have any significant personal information value. From that point of view this data collection is mostly harmless.
However, a lot of non-personal information can be collected - and added together this information can act as a kind of 'fingerprint' and could be used to show that one particular users browser set-up must have accessed a particular web-site.
Panopticlick will anonymously log the configuration and version information from your operating system, your browser, and your plug-ins, and compare it to their database of many other Internet users' configurations.
Then, it will give you a uniqueness score — letting you see how easily identifiable you might be as you surf the web - simply based on your system configuration.
The best 'defense' is to disable JavaScript because it cuts off many of the the methods that websites can use to detect plugins and fonts, as well as preventing the use of most kinds of 'supercookie'.
Unfortunately, JavaScript is necessary to make a lot of sites work well and this can be a major inconvenience when surfing. It's a trade-off - increased privacy but a less than optimal browsing experience. | 
Desktop Security Team News 
