1. A computer system for facilitating collection of historical network information, the system comprising: a processor; and a storage device storing instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to perform a method, the method comprising: monitoring a plurality of packets which include outgoing interests and corresponding incoming content objects, wherein a name for an interest is a hierarchically structured variable length identifier that includes contiguous name components ordered from a most general level to a most specific level; collecting historical information associated with the packets based on name prefixes of the packets, wherein a name prefix includes one or more contiguous name components; and in response to receiving a query from a requesting entity for the historical information, transmitting the historical information, thereby facilitating the requesting entity to use the historical information to increase network efficiency.