LookSmart Acquires Net Nanny

Paid search listings provider LookSmart has acquired Net Nanny, a filtering software enabling parents to control what their children see and do online.

LookSmart acquired the business and assets of Net Nanny for about $5 million in cash and stock from privately held BioNet Systems, LLC, a software company.

LookSmart will continue the existing Net Nanny consumer sales channel, and will integrate its Web search technology into Net Nanny in order to enable parental monitoring of online searching, the company said.

According to LookSmart, the company felt that blending its search technology with Net Nanny would form a stronger product for Net Nanny’s users. The move will also provide LookSmart with a desktop platform it can use to launch high margin search and paid listings applications, the company said.

LookSmart has acquired the entire Net Nanny line, which includes chat and instant messaging filtering and pop-up and spyware blocking.

BioNet will now focus on its flagship BioPassword product, which uses keystroke dynamics to identify a user by the way he or she types, the company said.

Net Nanny software makes it possible for adults to monitor, restrict or control their computers’ access to the Internet. An Internet pioneer, it launched in 1994.

LookSmart is also releasing its first quarter earnings results today after the bell.