ClariNet

ClariNet Communications Corp was an online newspaper service delivered over the internet. It was founded in 1989 in Waterloo, Ontario by Brad Templeton. ClariNet delivered traditional newspaper and magazine content using Usenet newsgroup technology, existing as a proprietary newsgroup hierarchy independent to the Big 8 hierarchies. News was delivered over the internet using NNTP as well as UUCP. Founding In the late 1980s, the Internet in the United States consisted of a variety of regional hubs connected by the NSFNet. Overtly commercial traffic was not permitted due to the Acceptable Use Policy. Templeton reports convincing Stephen Wolff, director of NSFNet, that a news service sold to universities and research labs on the internet for use in research and education would not violate the AUP, even though it was a for-profit effort.