The controversial site, that sends registered members of the public SMS messages to warn them where police are patrolling drug detection dogs, was swamped by so many people yesterday that outages were prevalent as the server struggled to cope with demand.

The site, operated by NSW Council for Civil Liberties and Redfern Legal Centre, was set up on Tuesday, May 21 and saw -hundreds of thousands" of people attempting to log on yesterday when the site was at its height of public awareness following an outcry from NSW Police Minister Michael Costa and his call for the site to be taken down.

According to NSW Council for Civil Liberties president Cameron Murphy, the site was flooded and went down for short periods immediately after it was aired on yesterday's television and radio news programs. -It's probably the hottest site in Australia at the moment," he told ZDNet Australia. -For short periods the server could not cope...it's quite clear it's nothing other than demand."

Following yesterday's call for the site to be taken down and the Police Minister seeking legal advice as to whether the site operators were committing an offence, Murphy said legal advice was sought from an eminent team of eight QCs and barristers before the site went live, -they tell us it complies with the law". The Police Minister has since acknowledged -it's unlikely we could pursue that on a legal front".

According to Murphy, the site was borne following drug sniffer dogs that wrongfully detected drugs on an IT programmer, who was then accused of being a drug dealer by police. -In talking to him we came up with this idea and he came up with the software," Murphy said.

Touting it as an -IT first", Murphy says this is the first time an -instant message" service like this has been put in place. The site, he explained, has a number of verified scouts in the field who warn of patrolling sniffer dogs by sending a code via SMS to the Web site server. The server verifies the scout and sends an SMS out to people registered in specific areas warning them of the detection dogs.

The service is able to send out 400 messages a second, according to Murphy who claims over 300 members of the public have signed up to be alerted to drug detection dogs since the site went live. Furthermore, the service has 60 verified scouts and about another 40 applicants who want to -register their service as civil rights activists," he said.

-The Web site enables us to keep track where sniffer dogs are being used and if they're being used in a discriminatory way," Murphy said. -If the police have got nothing to hide then they've got nothing to fear."

According to Murphy, it costs between AU$50,000 and $100,000 to train any one dog and keep it running, plus one handler is required per sniffer dog. -That's enough money to put three police officers on the beat who are infinitely better at detecting and solving crime than any dog will ever be."

Murphy pointed to the use of drug detection dogs in Sydney's Kings Cross last weekend 2600 people were stopped by dogs and searched by police, and only 33 people were picked up for having illicit drugs on their person.

Murphy said he would be happy to sit down with the Police Minister and talk things through. -I think there is room to come up with a solution," he said.

However, a spokesperson for the minister was adamant that the site would not -deter sniffer dog operations".

-The Council for Civil Liberties has eroded their credibility and destroyed their reputation by taking this stance," the minister's spokesperson said. -We ask that they respect the actions of front-line police and also respect the civil rights of law abiding members of the community."

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