> you would almost certainly have to reveal the exploit publicly in a court. That's definitely not true. Often police and prosecutors will go to great lengths

> you would almost certainly have to reveal the exploit publicly in a court. That's definitely not true. Often police and prosecutors will go to great lengths to hide a wiretap from the courts, especially if direct evidence didn't come from it. There have also been many cases where wiretaps haven't been disclosed in court because there may be on-going related operations that require the same surveillance. You don't want to tip people off. I don't see why any potential exploit wouldn't be the same. Here's an example: say you're investigating some organised crime. You learn from a wiretap that the next day one of your informants is going to be killed. You clearly want to prevent the latter without disclosing you've got an active wiretap.