Short answers, pulled from the story.
Brad Templeton launched ClariNet Communications Corp during 1989. The first public announcement appeared on the 9th of June 1989 under the title Live News & Professional Electronic Publications in USENET Format.
Stanford University became the very first customer to subscribe to the new service. This subscription marked the beginning of a business model that allowed for-profit news services to operate on NSFNet.
ClariNet delivered traditional newspaper content using Usenet newsgroup technology over NNTP protocols alongside UUCP connections. It existed as a proprietary hierarchy independent from the Big 8 hierarchies used elsewhere.
ClariNet served as a plaintiff in the United States Supreme Court case Reno v American Civil Liberties Union. An affidavit filed on the 8th of February 1996 detailed legal arguments against the decency sections of the Communications Decency Act which resulted in a unanimous 9-0 decision striking down those provisions.
The Library of Tomorrow offered an all-you-can-read model for science fiction readers including five full novels and a hypertext version of A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge. A 1993 anthology coordinated with the Science Fiction Hugo Awards contained all nominees for that year's awards along with Nebula Award short fiction nominees.