Mal Fletcher comments on the use of CCTV cameras and Tesco's announcement that they will soon be using face detection software

Trust is at the very heart of democratic government and it is the bottom-line currency in all free markets.

Governments can operate only because their citizens entrust certain powers into their hands. Companies can trade only because they've engaged the trust of their clients and customers.

If governments, including the local variety, won't trust their people, how long will it be before people return the favour and stop trusting their public representatives?

In the end, a lack of trust breeds social insecurity and a desire to fight the system rather than co-operate with it.

In the mid 1990s, sociologists developed what they called the 'broken windows theory'. Its basic premise is that when streetscapes and public buildings are left rundown, their users or tenants are more prone to commit acts of vandalism. Small crimes often then lead to larger crimes.

In a similar way, I think, the preponderance of security cameras in our streets leads people to ask, consciously or unconsciously, 'If the authorities don't trust us, why should we trust or engage with the authorities?'

If companies like Tesco are intent on adding to the public's sense of being observed, might they not also find that customer trust is compromised?

Knowing that we are surrounded by instruments of intrusion breeds and perpetuates a culture of suspicion all round.

Using new and emerging technologies in an ever more connected way does not necessarily mean that we must surrender all rights to privacy. Ceding privacy is a moral choice, not a technological necessity.

Technology is not destiny - human choice will decide whether technologies define us or serve us.

With any use of technology by officials - or companies - what we barely tolerate today may become the norm tomorrow, unless we are vigilant and hold them to account.