According to UK IT magazine PC Pro the Mozilla CEO has accused Apple of coming close to using malware tactics to install the Safari browser on Windows PCs via the iTunes updater.

It reports that the latest version of the Windows iTunes updater, designed to make upgrading to the latest version of the music software as easy as possible along with notifying the user of updates to other installed Apple software, will automatically select Safari for download even if it is not a previously installed application. The only way to avoid the download, and subsequent installation, is to uncheck the box. Something not every user might spot.

"What Apple is doing now with its Apple Software Update on Windows is wrong. It undermines the trust relationship great companies have with their customers, and that's bad - not just for Apple, but for the security of the whole web" claims Mozilla CEO John Lilly, who goes on to suggest that the Apple tactics "borders on malware distribution practises."