TWO NEW YORK MEN who developed code that tracked visitors to the online social site MySpace have cut a deal with prosecutors to keep themselves out of prison.

Shaun Harrison, 19, and Saverio Mondelli, 20, of Suffolk County, New York wrote code that enabled users to know the identity of Myspace users by collecting email and IP addresses. Prosecutors said that the code would have been ideal for anyone who wanted to stalk someone.

When Myspace spotted the code, it sent a cease and desist letter. However instead of ceasing and desisting, the pair thought they might be able to get a $150,000 "consulting fee" from Myspace owner News Corp to stop using the code.

They were arrested last May when they flew to Los Angeles to collect the cash they believed they had negotiated. Instead of a fat cheque, there were undercover Secret Service and district attorney's investigators present at the meeting.

Faced with jail, the Harrison and Mondelli plea bargained their way to a deal that severely restricts their access to computers, limits them to one e-mail address each, requires do 160 hours of community service and pay MySpace $13,500 in restitution.