Thread:Talk:Echo (Notifications)/Email notification defaults

I'm new around here, so I hope this is the right place for this. I posted this yesterday at Talk:Echo (Notifications)/Feature requirements after reading about this at Echo (Notifications)/Feature requirements:

"Apparently the default setting is to send individual notifications as they come in via email? How is this good practice to apply this automatically? Aside from likely pissing users off, this could violate spam laws by sending unsolicited emails. Email notifications should definitely be opt-in."

To my mind, activating this setting by default seems to be a major oversight. Personally, I prefer not to receive emails from WMF about most things (instead to be notified when I visit), so I am both surprised and annoyed that this has been activated by default without my intervention. I'm sure I'm not the only one who will have such a reaction, especially users who unexpectedly receive an influx of emails from WMF without warning.