There is a lot riding on the outcome of the Raj Rajaratnam trial. As the jury deliberates, it's clear that the whole idea of wiretaps as evidence is also on trial.

The prosecution built its case in large part on the surreptitiously recorded phone conversations, which caught the defendants and his alleged conspirators in candid moments. Unlike their email communications, they were uninhibited on the phone. In one call, Danielle Chiesi muses that she might be under investigation and tells Rajaratnam she's "glad that we talk on a secure line,'' notes the Boston Globe.

According to one expert, "wiretaps should scare the hell out of anyone thinking about doing insider trading," notes the paper.

The government played nearly 50 tapes of recorded phone calls, and asked jurors to spend as much time as they needed re-hearing the evidence.

The outcome of their deliberations will likely dictate how other insider trading trials might unfold from the prosecution's point of view. A win would certainly embolden prosecutors to try the same strategy in future trials. A loss may lead them to rethink.

To be sure, the prosecution threw up a lot of witnesses who were part of the alleged insider trading. But the wiretaps were considered among the strongest evidence they had. It remains to be seen if they were good enough for a win.

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