While advances in technology have given the world much freedom, it may have also come at a cost, according to Dr John Weckert of Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics.

Dr Weckert will join a panel of researchers, social commentators and entrepreneurs at Spy vs Spy: the science of surveillance and security in Sydney today, Tuesday 29 October, where he will address the most common social issues raised about surveillance and security and how they relate to personal privacy and freedom.

It is trust, says Dr Weckert, that is often overlooked and lack of it could relate directly to the “breakdown of trust in society”.

“Surveillance and security have the potential not to strengthen trust, but to destroy it,” he said. “Sometimes these measures are important for maintaining trust and sometimes we may think they are more important than trust.”

Dr Weckert says surveillance technologies are trust inhibiting and while they can be “legitimate security tools”, their use can cause a breakdown in trust and must be used with “extreme care”.

“A useful rule of thumb might be to use them in response to a known or suspected problem, rather than merely to see what people are doing. But even this needs qualification – randomly monitoring employees in the workplace should be avoided,” he said.

Once trust is lost, he says, it is very difficult to regain.

“It is important that further research is conducted to help our understanding of how much surveillance and security we can stand without trust being undermined.”