Right now, federal law requires your consent before a company can stop mailing you your financial statements or health coverage documents. Two federal agencies — the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Department of Labor (DOL) — have proposed rules that would flip that arrangement. Electronic delivery would become the default. If you don’t act, your silence would be treated as approval.

This isn’t a hypothetical risk. It’s the same pattern scammers use: an email arrives telling you a document is available, with a link to click to retrieve it. Consumer protection offices across the country have spent years warning people not to click that link — and these proposals would make clicking it the new normal.

Nearly 80% of Americans say they want the right to decide how they receive financial and service communications. The people most affected by losing that choice are often the least equipped to navigate the switch:

• 18% of Americans are 65 or older, but only 14% report being online almost constantly.
• Nearly 28% of people in rural areas — and more than 23% of people on Tribal lands — lack access to fixed broadband, according to the FCC.
• 22% of Americans have been victims of identity theft, most commonly financial identity theft.
• Older Americans filed more than 48,000 phishing complaints with the FBI last year alone.