One embodiment of the present method and apparatus for reducing spam in
peer-to-peer networks includes forming a search message including at
least one decoy word and sending the search request message, including
the decoy word(s), to one or more nodes in the network. Embodiments of
the present invention make it possible to weed out nodes in the network
that send spam in response to every search message (e.g., regardless of
the search message's content).