Because we started talking about FDE specifically?
I don't get why you're so hung up about physical access. But at least I think I understand how we got there:
gsreenivas: Most cloud-based email services hold email in the clear
lvh: are you suggesting cloud e-mail services don't use FDE?
lolc: They may but they also hold the keys.
lvh: it's a lot easier to walk out with a box in my kitchen than it is to walk out with a drive from us-east-2a
lolc: How many people have access to drives in us-east-2a?
In that last quote I should have said "storage", because I didn't mean physical access only. So apologies if that set you on the wrong track.
Sure, but why are you comparing a software compromise against physical access? There are attacks that work against cloud providers which don't work against Helm. If somebody can compromise a Helm update they essentially got root. And that is a step up from just read access to storage.
Here's how I see it: There is a provider that runs my mail infrastructure. They can either run it on AWS, or host it at my home. If the data is in my home I don't have to trust Amazon. I still have to trust my mail provider ultimately, but using AWS doesn't improve on that.