I can only speak to my own experiences, but at least in my case the news has really turned me off to these companies. A year or so ago I turned down an offer from Palantir due largely to privacy and ethical concerns, and since that time every single instance of Palantir showing up in the news has made me think to myself "Man I'm glad I didn't take that offer." I suspect I am not alone in my desire to make the world a better place through hacking and technology. Then again I also suspect that there is some set of less scrupulous engineers out there following the dollars. In that case I would guess that the effect of this kind of publicity is polarizing, but not in a single direction.
It was great to read your post, I helped a kid called Palmer Luckey 4 years ago with VR HMD ideas. He took my help and others and has now took funding from Joe Lonsdale, coufounder of Palantir, and I lay awake at nights at how has this happened? This cool open source kid that we all liked selling out to the darkside of people like lonsdale and In Q tel, why couldn't he be MORE like YOU? When he realized it was Palantir Types throwing the money at him, I wish he could have been a cool jedi like you and said no thanks, I don't want your money, you may have good objectives at heart Palantir, but there is just too much negativity about stuff like you guys do and I don't want any part of it. That you had ethical and moral character that I see lacking in Palmer Luckey makes me still have hope in mankind.
