Why did ARPA and NSF turn down Paul Mockapetris's later DNS research proposals?

Paul Mockapetris says that by the late 1980s ARPA told him DNS was a done deal and no longer research, so it would stop paying for it. He then proposed to NSF using DNS to build an index of what content every machine held, and was told the idea was crazy because there were thousands of machines. Looking back, he says he never realised he could have taken such ideas to Sand Hill Road investors instead.

• Mockapetris says he had at least half a dozen chances to start a company and did not take them.
• Mockapetris points out the IETF takes credit for DNS, though its first meeting was in 1986, three years after the DNS specs.

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on Ryan Peterman (2026-10-19). Read the whole episode summary →

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