It's more expensive and more complicated, but it's not crazy.
To quote the article "Stay tuned – this is a fight that will happen over and over again, and there will be more guidance provided by the courts in the coming years."
As long as the data exists, there's a very real risk someone is going to want it. If it's managed by an off-the-shelf SaaS vendor, where and how that data exists is entirely outside your control.
That article basically agrees with me. Additionally -- notice how it doesn't point to explicit existing examples, but implies "future problems" -- as did the 2006 article.
"In the vast majority of cases, cloud data that is accessible by the end-user will meet discovery needs and obligations."
and
(regarding going after cloud providers) "Serving a subpoena and ensuring compliance can be challenging and potentially expensive. Whether such efforts are worth the expense and effort will depend on the specific needs of each case. Cloud providers are likely to resist compliance with a subpoena under provisions of Title II of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, otherwise known as the Stored Communications Act (“SCA”)."
Additionally, a director at http://tsemerge.com/ is hardly an unbiased reality oriented 3rd party. The more scared you are -- and the more complex it seems -- the more likely you are to hire them.
As for "Cloud providers are likely to resist", I dare say what's more likely to resist is controlling your own data and simply not having it stored anywhere in the first place.
It's more expensive and more complicated, but it's not crazy.
To quote the article "Stay tuned – this is a fight that will happen over and over again, and there will be more guidance provided by the courts in the coming years."
As long as the data exists, there's a very real risk someone is going to want it. If it's managed by an off-the-shelf SaaS vendor, where and how that data exists is entirely outside your control.