Completely agree with you Mean Variance !!
There's a particularly annoying [to me at least] advert running in the UK at present.
it features an office type staring at a PC alone in the office after hours - (a stereotype of a working all hours banker type) who hears a colleague using a shredder. He leaps up saying "Don't do it, that document's the only proof we've got!" to which his mate replies "We don't need this, everone's gone paperless these days". The advert finishes with a voice over that TV Licences needn't be a drama and suggesting that we all go paperless.
To me that's wrong! Almost to the point of being dishonest and misleading.
And it's why I stick to having a paper licence; the paper licence is literally the only proof I have that I have a licence [apart from being a curmudgeonly old Luddite :-) ].
Paperless implies that I must trust implicitly that the records held are accurate, complete and up to date; one database error and there would be no proof that I have a licence. Given the history of government and quasi government (privatised and given to their buddies) with IT systems [most notably the Horizon scandal, but this is one of many], I have very little faith in "the system".
Paper documents and/or well maintained backups plus screenshots are an insurance 'cost' well worth enduring.
And before the usual rants about TV licences, this is not unique to them [but the advert is] - the same applies to banks, utility providers... the list goes on.