Social-networking giant MySpace plans to offer free software enabling parents to keep tabs on their children's online identities.

Code-named Zephyr, the software tracks the name, age and location that children are using on MySpace.

With the software, parents can determine whether their kids have profiles and validate the age listed in it, Hemanshu Nigam, chief security officer of MySpace, said in a statement.

MySpace, which has an estimated 135 million users, said much of the site's safety features are age-based and depend on people providing their true age.

"This really is an age-verification tool," Yankee Group analyst Jill Aldort told internetnews.com.

"It's a fantastic tool for engaged parents" to monitor their child's online behavior, John Sheehan, Cybertip line manager for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

Sheehan said the software won't be a silver bullet for online predators, but said Zephyr is part of the "arsenal of child safety tools.

'Hey kids, download this software and have your parents spy on you,'" the analyst joked.

Whether the plan will spark user protest similar to what Facebook encountered last year remains to be seen.

" MySpace said it would add new staff to provide 24-hour monitoring, including matching new users against a database of 550,000 convicted offenders, internetnews.com reported at the time.

¶ 3:11 AM