[yellowapple]

Sure, but a check is at least ostensibly ephemeral (even if there's nothing preventing someone from jotting down the account/routing number), and there are legal protections against using that info for transactions other than that consented to on the check (hence the signature and memo line and such).

Contrast that with explicitly authorizing PornHub to withdraw from your account at their discretion, as is the case when you're giving them your account/routing number on a web form. That info then gets stored in some database.

And no, I don't give utility companies or landlords or what have you such authorization, either. I mail them a check (thereby not giving them cause to store the account info long-term and not giving them consent to auto-withdraw), or I use a credit or debit card (which I can dispute or change far more easily than I can a bank account). If they accepted cryptocurrencies, then I'd pick that over either of those options.