I personally wouldn't have expected Google/Yahoo/MS/etc. to cave, but that's because I would have naturally assumed that as U.S.-based providers that they may e

I personally wouldn't have expected Google/Yahoo/MS/etc. to cave, but that's because I would have naturally assumed that as U.S.-based providers that they may eventually be served with a U.S. subpoena and simply wrote it off as a valid possibility. I think most people expect that the Fourth Amendment would have applied to email hosted at these places, but that's because they don't understand how the case law has been applied to things like this. If people really just want cloud-based email they can check from multiple devices, that does have "normal court protections", and without having to host on their own PC this kind of thing is a possible solution. There are existing turnkey software frameworks to make it work too (e.g., Kolab, which is developed by some of my fellow devs in Europe).