If we could only harvest that negative spin, we would certainly have a working perpetuum mobile in no time.

What is wrong with positioning yourself as a device maker that guarantees privacy and security ? In the end it's a choice that they need to make and while it's definitely business driven, I don't see what they could possible do to make it less "shameful"?

There is a market for it and it's certainly something that I personally find very valuable. I don't like to be a "product" and rather pay a premium, although my iPhone SE is not that more expensive than a Pixel device for example.