There's a trend over the past few months, as more users head over to small time browsers

Sep 2, 2013 10:36 GMT  ·  By

Ever since the NSA scandal broke out, the number of Internet users heading for other browsers than the ones provided by big companies, such as Chrome, Internet Explorer, Safari and Firefox, has grown.

According to recent stats from StatCounter, the market share of browsers stored under the “Other” category has reached 2.69 percent.

While the number is still small and basically nothing compared to the 43 percent market share of Google Chrome, it’s still a trend that’s worth mentioning.

In May, only 2.18 percent of Internet users worldwide chose to use other browsers than those provided by Google, Microsoft and Apple.

Mozilla, which runs Firefox, one of the world's top web browsers, wasn't included in any of the NSA papers and is a known adversary of the surveillance programs.

Once the NSA scandal was revealed in early June, and the names of the aforementioned companies linked to the PRISM mass data collection program run by the American intelligence agency, the number of individuals heading for other browsers increased rapidly.

In June, the number had already jumped to 2.44 percent, in July to 2.58 percent and in August to 2.69 percent. Estimates indicate a jump to 2.84 percent for September.

It is well known that the list of “Other” browsers, includes tools that do not track any Internet activity (such as DuckDuckGo) and most importantly, names that are not linked to big US corporations the NSA can easily get access to.

There are roughly 2.7 billion Internet users, stats indicate, which means there were about 58 million users of non-mainstream browsers in May. The number jumped to over 72 million last month.

As mentioned, the numbers are not necessarily ground breaking, but the trend is worth mentioning considering the current global situation.

Fear of being tracked online will only continue to grow as more and more information is revealed regarding the NSA scandal and the programs it runs to spy on foreigners and US citizens alike, as well as states and global organizations, such as the United Nations. Along with it, more people could soon be seen to migrate to other browsing solutions.