[volatile]

Jeremy Howard, the founder of FastMail, responded to a similar question on Slashdot in October 2009. http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1391605&cid=2963235...

  We've had a number of US-based law enforcement bodies over
  the year try to get hold of our data without going via the
  appropriate Australian bodies, and it doesn't work out for
  them. In the end, they have always ended up submitting a 
  request for cooperation via the Australian Federal Police,
  as they are required to do, and we respond to that request
  in line with Australian law.

Even so, as an Australian I decided to use a hosting company whose servers are physically hosted in Australia.

[kijin]

That was before the Opera acquisition and the subsequent changes to their infrastructure. I wonder if their servers are still encrypted?

[brongondwana]

Fair enough. Hosting in Australia is something we consider occasionally, but the bandwidth pricing is just so much higher. It's always worth looking at demand of course - are there enough people who would be willing to pay a premium to have their email in Australia to justify running up a full instance here.

[coffeecheque]

I'd pay extra for Australian located email hosting too. Or even a European option.

Also, since we're talking feature requests: 1) contacts syncing via CardDav and 2) Calendar.

Contact syncing is vital though. It's really a killer at this point.

[volatile]

I currently do pay a premium and I'd prefer to be paying it to FastMail.

Recent revelations mean there may be a few more Australians willing to pay a premium to host mail in Australia.

Also, thanks for your work on Cyrus.