I don't think that holding services legal liable for short-notice service cancellations is the correct way to go, as annoying as the cancellation might for the

I don't think that holding services legal liable for short-notice service cancellations is the correct way to go, as annoying as the cancellation might for the users involved. It would become yet another diversion of time and money away from the goal of improving and keeping the service running. It might be an absorbable cost for a company as large as AOL, but it might be the difference between living and dying for a small company just trying to get going. Even if they could survive though, it doesn't mean they should be held liable. Forcing them to spend money being graceful at shutting down one service might result in collateral damage of other services to offset the cost. It's ultimately a question between corporate and personal responsibility. In the end, they are another data storage mechanism. And as with all means of data storage, you need to keep backups somewhere else. Metaphorically comparing this to tenant eviction just doesn't work. One's livelihood is not threatened by losing some photos or blogposts, and the cost of maintaining backups is insignificant compared to the cost of maintaining an alternative place to live.