Government informant - good or bad?

[anotherlife]

All government's use informants. Let's discount informants of violent crime or terrorism. Let's consider only informants on general people.

Totalitarian governments hire political informants. Democratic governments hire tax informants.

Is it a good thing or a bad thing, that the average person can be informed upon, to start a government investigation against him?

So far Denmark was the only country that rejected a Lichtenstein informant when he gave out account numbers from that tax haven. Was Denmark right or wrong, to lose a great deal of cash, on this moral principle against informants?

Are informants a good thing or a bad thing?

 

[Humorme]

All government's use informants. Let's discount informants of violent crime or terrorism. Let's consider only informants on general people.

Totalitarian governments hire political informants. Democratic governments hire tax informants.

Is it a good thing or a bad thing, that the average person can be informed upon, to start a government investigation against him?

So far Denmark was the only country that rejected a Lichtenstein informant when he gave out account numbers from that tax haven. Was Denmark right or wrong, to lose a great deal of cash, on this moral principle against informants?

Are informants a good thing or a bad thing?

Informants are never a good thing and they should be executed and the government officials that rely on them should be tried for treason.

Rephrased, is it a good thing for a dozen innocent people to be falsely accused to get one bad guy convicted?

 

[anotherlife]

All government's use informants. Let's discount informants of violent crime or terrorism. Let's consider only informants on general people.

Totalitarian governments hire political informants. Democratic governments hire tax informants.

Is it a good thing or a bad thing, that the average person can be informed upon, to start a government investigation against him?

So far Denmark was the only country that rejected a Lichtenstein informant when he gave out account numbers from that tax haven. Was Denmark right or wrong, to lose a great deal of cash, on this moral principle against informants?

Are informants a good thing or a bad thing?

Informants are never a good thing and they should be executed and the government officials that rely on them should be tried for treason.

Rephrased, is it a good thing for a dozen innocent people to be falsely accused to get one bad guy convicted?

I totally agree. It is a very dirty way of governance. Also, I think it undermines the authority of the government, because it advertises that you contribute a great deal to the agenda of the informant in contrast to contributing to your country.