It's OFF by default...because I hate people saying YES for me and me having to say NO when I register somewhere... I hate people trying to fool me by hoping I forget to click NO to not be spammed.
< / rant >
Marketing gurus will tell you 3 things (at least...):
- don't ask just spam'em aka inform them
- say yes for them, so they don't need to think
- don't make your customer think and say "NO"...
As you see these are contradictory.
In addition, some countries laws require opt-in and do not allow opt-outs.
These are the reasons the default is not checked...and i'm not planing to make it configurable in my free time for fun