Although many in the developed world perceive their governments as overly bureaucratic and often inept, far fewer think of them as organisations which are malign at heart.

But recent technological developments, combined with the greater resources and legislative leeway promised to security services since 11 September, may lead to perceptions darkening.

According to Frank Bannister of Trinity College Dublin, there is already good reason to be concerned. Bannister points to the increasing ability of states to gather and cross reference large amounts of information about citizens at high speed.

A recent example is the international surveillance alliance codenamed Echelon, recently the subject of European Parliament scrutiny. Other threats are posed by an increase in inequality through technological exclusion.

In a recent paper written with Steven Lalor from the Department of the Taoseach in Ireland entitled Public service values: towards an ethical framework for e-government, Bannister says that a set of ethical values for civil servants in the form of a charter would provide a safeguard to the public against 'e-oppression'.

"A framework cannot supply instant answers to all ethical dilemmas and conflicts, but it can provide an environment within which actions can be taken," the paper says.

Developing the concept, it says that statutory codes of ethics should be drawn up for individual state employees and government bodies.

Bannister and Lalor further propose the creation of a statutory code specifying the way e-government treats its citizens.

Among the recommendations for inclusion in this last code is that all information transmitted electronically is accurate and complete, and that it makes non-electronic forms of information available.

The authors conclude that none of the existing lists of ethical values, such as those formulated by the Nolan Committee on Standards in Public Life in 1995, are suitable as a basis for an e-government framework.

What is needed instead, the paper states, are values which are politically and ideologically neutral, practical and acceptable to the reasonable citizen.

The ethical framework laid down should be taken as the basis of legislation in which the citizen might take refuge.

It quotes the principle cited by Thomas More in Robert Bolt's play A man for all seasons which suggests that the ultimate protection for all our freedoms is the ability to hide in the "thickets" of an independent judiciary, which protect us even against the clutches of the state.

"It is not possible to legislate civil servants into behaving well, but the citizenry has long since discovered that ultimately only the law can provide guaranteed protection," the paper says.

The authors believe that the proposal is a first step in developing an ethical code applicable to Europe, where ethical thinking about e-government lags behind that of the US.

The next step for the UK, Bannister says, would be the establishment of a government commission.

Readers can obtain a copy of his paper by emailing Frank Bannister at fbnnistr@tcd.ie