Does everybody realise how easy it would be to detect such an "unorthodox miner" ??

The software THAT YOU HAVE INSTALLED on your computer does it, and even you can do it "manually".

The reward transaction is the first one in the block:  you just have to look at it.

After block 210,000, If the reward is greater than 25BTC (apart from transaction fees), then you have been silly enough to install the cartel's version of the software.   In that case, all you have to do is uninstall this software and reinstall Satoshi's or Gavin's version.

End of story.

How hard is that?

To me, this Timothy Lee's article has been given way too much credit.  It's not a new idea, and it's not even smart.

Bitcoin is not a democracy:  nobody has to suffer from the stupidity of the majority of people.