Claims some guy in IRC
Indeed. This entire story is a prime example of Internet hysteria.
I explicitly remember someone on either this forum or Reddit/r/bitcoin saying 'oh- wouldn't it be funny if the cops started raiding these bitcoin miners under suspicion for growing?' A day or two later this story appears, judging from some guy on IRC who got picked up by a low-level blog. From there, much like fractional-reserve banking, the story was pyramided up by more and more legitimate news sources, each one sourcing the one below it. This story was on Slashdot. All from one guy's probably-false statement on IRC.
