1. A method of persistently identifying nodes in networks having transient network communities where a collection of the nodes making up the network may change over time, comprising steps of: assigning an initial network address to each node upon its initial entry into the network; creating a persistent node identifier for each of the nodes, upon the initial entry of the node into the network; storing a mapping between the initial network address and the persistent node identifier; and using the persistent node identifier to resolve each node's identity upon its subsequent entry into the network, even though a different network address may be assigned to the node upon the subsequent entry.