"Data ownership becomes fuzzy in the cloud"
Who knew!!
If Facebook has taught us nothing else, it is that people can be cavalier about protecting their data. The social networking giant has forced consumers to think differently about their data: have I just handed over the rights to the photos of my kids? Am I going to appear on my friends' pages endorsing fashion leggings thanks …
But, presumably, even if Officer Dibble comes in and seizes the shared servers, tapes etc, there's nothing to stop your hosting provider reinstating YOUR data and services from a backup.
You did buy the DR service didn'y you? And made sure they tested it? Of course, if you didn't then...
Don't forget the USA spends 6x as much as China, 12x as much as Britain (2nd and 3rd in defence spending) on 'defence'. This is why when they said to the EU we want access to everyones bank account details the EU turned around and asked politely if the US wanted to ***** them as well....
Just having data not in the US is no guarantee that it will be protected. If it is in the corner of your office at least you know if you are being raided. You also know that the company next door is but your data is still fine.
"In the US, they can walk in and grab the servers."
Can and Do - but I'd be surprised if this situation didn't exist in most western countries. The fact is there are a myriad of ways to lose the data and virtually all of the data backup plans are much more heavily biased towards convenience than survivability of the data.
My method? Have three separate, completely independent, backup methods - the chances are that one of them will work.