[snugghash]

I think that's because the service is hosting the data, not the data itself. Holding onto the data which you (expect to) own is pretty much akin to a person taking care of a pet for money and when the money is not paid, keeps the cat. It's the obvious solution - the cat-sitter doesn't have any other leverage here - but Github does have other options than holding onto the cat.

[c17r]

A better parallel would be storage lockers. And there, if you stop paying eventually they cut the lock off and sell your stuff.