You keep repeating this mantra but where is it stated in EC261 that this is the case.

Article 7 says "the passenger shall receive compensation". Surely if your analysis was right it would say the passenger may claim compensation.

Also Article 14 refers to every passenger affected being given a notice. So what harm could it do if airlines were required to email travellers affected - they would only be complying with legislation (which we know they often don't do now from the data points on here).