Hi Nancy,
It seemed to me that there was a split in the crowd: those who were still interested by this issue/topic, and those who were kind of getting tired of it.
I think the perception of this as a barrier/boundary comes more directly to us from institutions and cultures/attitudes/policies there. though I guess ultimately inspired by larger bodies - gov't/law/legal responsibilities.
and then a subtext to the discussion that i heard more than once was this idea: data travels to/through the states no matter what. so maybe we're kidding ourselves in thinking we keep it all in canada by avoiding services hosted in the US. true? I don't know.
personally, I am torn. I am a play-by-the-rules kind of gal, but at the same time, i do grow weary of this:
"Oh hey, here's a cool tool we could use in our courses...!"
"No. We can't: Patriot Act"