Ask HN: Why are browser authors allowing notification spam?

Hi. Nearly every new website I open keeps asking me about allowing "Desktop notifications". Every new browser I start using asks me the same thing, on every popular site, every time, not just web applications where I have an account and I'm logged in.

Why? Who on earth has thought this was a good idea? Why have anyone created a standard which is incredibly annoying, requires opt-out effort, and most importantly, why are Firefox and Chrome following along? /rant

[edit] Same thing with Location permission ("<url> wants to know your location" popup). We know popups are terrible UX. Popups not requested are worse UX. What is going on?