Since the service worker is running in the context of the browser, most anti-virus software packages will give the traffic and processing a pass.

This is scary. As our tools mature, including new ideas about notifications and such, hidden things are being added to the back to get the work done. This is great because it brings technology closer to magic, but it also means that the assumptions we make about technology are mostly wrong.

The article mentions that 12% of people who see the notifications prompt accept it. This is bad. Web browsers should make it more difficult for websites to ask for permission to create service workers. Instead, firefox makes it more likely for a user to click Allow. I always click Deny, because I sure don’t want notifications on desktop from random websites. But I guess most people can easily click Allow. The buck for this stops at the browser’s design team.

I’ve visited tech news sites that have maybe one or two articles of interest, which have asked me for notifications access every time. This should not be normal behavior.