Mike Duffy, left, who was a Charlottetown councillor in the years overlapping another Mike Duffy who was making news headlines, chats with Mayor Philip Brown in council chambers in 2022. Photo by Dave Stewart /Guardian fileArticle contentFor years now, probably since Google and other search engines have made it easy to find the email addresses of any business around the world, our newsroom has been the unfortunate recipient of unsolicited and misdirected feedback.THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY.Subscribe now to access this story and more:Unlimited access to the website and appExclusive access to premium content, newsletters and podcastsFull access to the e-Edition app, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment onEnjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalistsSupport local journalists and the next generation of journalistsSUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES.Subscribe or sign in to your account to continue your reading experience.Unlimited access to the website and appExclusive access to premium content, newsletters and podcastsFull access to the e-Edition app, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment onEnjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalistsSupport local journalists and the next generation of journalistsRegister to unlock more articles.Create an account or sign in to continue your reading experience.Access additional stories every monthShare your thoughts and join the conversation in our commenting communityGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountorArticle contentThe missives go something like this, with curse words redacted: “You miserable (redacted) scumbags. Your vile piece of (redacted) reporting shows what utter (redacted) you are. Your so-called (redacted) (redacted) (redacted) ‘journalism’ is good only as a bin liner.” Then there would be a reference to a news story out of Britain.Article contentArticle contentArticle contentI’ve been known to reply, “Hello. You have reached The Guardian in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. We have no affiliation with the newspaper of the same name in the U.K. Here is a link to their contacts …”Article contentIt is amusing to me how often the person who typed the scathing, cuss-laden condemnation will reply to my message in the following vein: “Terribly sorry! Thanks so much for replying to my email. I love Canada and hope to visit again someday.”Article contentSo I have some sympathy for people who are mistaken for one another because they share a name.Article contentArticle contentNot that Jane DoeArticle contentThis has sometimes come up in our court reporting when someone sharing the name of the accused asks us to publish a note clearing them of the crime.Article content“Jane Doe, 37, of Charlottetown, accused of braining Col. John Mustard with a candlestick as reported in the article, Police testify about key clue, is not Jane Dough, 56, of Charlottetown who runs Pat-a-Cake Bakery,” is the template we might use for the clarification. The advent of search engines, however, has decreased the frequency of this request at the same rate as it has increased the misdirected mail we receive.Article contentArticle contentWhile I’m being a little tongue-in-cheek here, the situation was not funny at all for Cape Breton fiddler, Ashley MacIsaac, who took his fight of mistaken identity to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice this year.Article contentArticle contentThe suit alleged that Google was liable for defamatory and false search results in its AI Overview that confused MacIsaac for another man with a similar name who is on the sex offender registry. MacIsaac, who lost out on at least one gig over this egregious error — and who has been understandably worried about his reputation, not to mention his personal safety — settled out of court with Google in a case that could have been precedent-setting.Article contentArticle contentClearing up confusionArticle contentThe situation is not so dire but can still be annoying for some of my newsroom colleagues who have been the subject of confusion over shared monikers.Article contentWhile humming a few bars of The Kids in the Hall’s catchy, These are the Daves I Know, we have often teased our local journalist Dave Stewart by listing out all the other Dave Stewarts who have intermittently made the news over the years.
JOCELYNE LLOYD: Amusing and not so funny cases of mistaken identity
