Decentralized name verification using recursive attestation

A computer-implemented method performed on a data processing apparatus comprising:

• receiving, at a computing device, a name and identifying information;
• determining, by the computing device, that there is a contact item comprising both the name and the identifying information in a contacts database stored on the computing device or accessible to the computing device;
• sending a positive attestation and an attestation score for an entity associated with the computing device to be used to generate an attestation score for the name and identifying information, wherein the attestation score for the name and identifying information is used to determine whether to allow the creation of an account with the name;
• wherein the attestation score for the entity associated with the computing device is generated based on at least one positive attestation from at least one other computing device, and wherein the at least one other computing device generated the positive attestation upon finding a name and identifying information for the entity in a contact item in a contacts database stored on or accessible to that at least one other computing device.