1. A method for assessing routes in a network of connected nodes, wherein a querying node propagates a query through multiple routes of intermediate nodes to a data source node and the data source node returns data to the querying node, and wherein the method at the data source node comprises: receiving, by one or more processors, a query instance comprising metadata with route information of a route of intermediate nodes in a network that a query instance has travelled through from a querying node to the data source node; comparing, by one or more processors, the route information to a route policy; and responding to, by one or more processors, a query instance that meets the route policy by returning a query response to the query instance via the route of intermediate nodes of the query instance.