The reality is that it was just bad research that had some luck getting funded. 95% of IRC discourse happens in back channels, dyadic interactions, which is not public and is not being analyzed by the research outlined by this grant. Derek McMillan wrote:

Sci Fi writer Frank Herbert described democracy as a system in which the people distrust the government. I think the surveillance of chatrooms is not so much a hunt for terrorists as a hunt for people expressing the "wrong" opinions. In a democracy they would expect to be able to do that without government snoopers taking an interest......perhaps they would be wrong. The attack on Indymedia in the UK is a clear indication of a clampdown on freedom of speech on a number of fronts.

Which is a shame.