Hope You Don’t Have Expectations Of Privacy At Perez Hilton’s Site
A word of warning:Â Don’t send Perez an email and then tick him off, because he’s liable to just exact a little retribution of his own:
Diane Wargo, 42, filed suit Monday in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court. Wargo’s lawsuit stems from a nasty e-mail she sent Hilton — the self-proclaimed “Queen of All Media” — in December. The e-mail, filled with homophobic language, insulted Hilton and actress Angelina Jolie.
Hilton — whose real name is Mario Lavandeira — posted Wargo’s name and work e-mail on his gossip Web site, resulting in a rush of angry e-mails from Hilton fans, said Wargo’s lawyer, Brian Spitz. Menorah Park, which also received numerous e-mails from angry Hilton fans, fired Wargo the same day because she had used her company e-mail, Spitz said.
Perez’s lawyers contend that she had no expectation of privacy because she didn’t post to the site, but sent a personal email:
Wargo, in her lawsuit, said she and other users of Hilton’s site are promised confidentiality.
Hilton’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, told the Associated Press that the lawsuit has no merit and that anyone who sends an e-mail to perezhilton.com does not have an expectation of privacy rights.
So just what did she say, anyway? (I’m not linking to the original, look it up if you don’t believe me)
Perez you are a FAT GAY PIG! Angelina is a ugly whore! You love her because she is a fag lover! Her brother is a gay little jerk just like your fat ugly ass! MANGELINA is a digusting gross skank!
I’m not a lawyer, and I’m no expert on the finer points of law, so I’m not sure if all of this will hold up in court or not. But I do know this…Perez sits up there in his pretty pink palace and rains down spit slobber doodles on whatever celeb is having a bad day at the moment, and takes no time to examine the finer points of…well, anything. His attitude is arrogant and for every friend he has in the celeb word, he has fifty who can’t stand the mention of his name.
But even if it is true that the expectation of privacy clause applies only to the site and not personal email, it was still a rotten thing to do. Perez knows the power of his site and of the internets in general, and he knew that if he posted someone’s personal information that it would be all over the web in a matter of minutes. If somebody knows what they’re doing, they could have found out a lot more info than just what Perez posted, and then it becomes a safety issue. The woman has already been besieged with threatening emails and phone calls from rabid Perez fans.
Besides, she should have known what she was getting in for when she logged onto the site. I mean, come on…read one article there and you’ve got his MO figured out. He posts how he does for a reason, and that reason is to generate hits to his site.
No, she should not have sent him a letter rife with gay slurs, no matter how she felt. No matter how somebody feels about another’s sexual orientation (or race or occupation or eating habits or whatever), that’s just wrong. And it was pretty stupid to send him an email from where she works. But he in turn shouldn’t have posted her personal information and possibly compromised her personal safety in doing so. He’s just shooting himself in the foot when he does stuff like this.
So, if you go to Perez’s site, caveat emptor (well, or something like that).
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Perez is seriously creating some majorly bad karma for himself. I sure wouldn’t want to be around when it comes back ten-fold. Which it will.
Comment by D — July 16, 2008 @ 2:25 pm
Whats one more lawsuit to Perez and who can count all of them to date?
Sure, hes an arrogant opportunist hypocritical copyright infringing sleaze bag counting his money all the while laughing to the bank.
My advice to Mrs Wargo would have been if you don’t like Pee Pee Perez, don’t log on there, don’t read there and don’t sent hate mail, especially while your getting PAID AT WORK.
Lots of blogs publish hate mail, I’m sure she will lose.
Advice: DON’T VISIT HIS SITE.
[im willing to bet most of his hits are from young girls]
Comment by Gradyman — July 16, 2008 @ 9:03 pm
Hi Dawn!
Some Legal Insight
1 – A private email in this case should have a similar expectation of privately. That is unless Perez states on the sight that any email sent to him can be reposted, by him, to his site. In that case she should have had no expectation of privacy.
2 – Caveat Emptor is correct. Means Buyer Beware. Good advice for his site
-Martin, JD
Comment by MartinJDAnon — July 16, 2008 @ 11:48 pm
I think it’s great that Perez exposed this woman’s hatred on his website and he had every right to do so. Perhaps in the future, she will think twice about attacking someone in such a vile and personal manner. It’s a hard lesson to learn for a hater, especially in a such a public manner.
As for “K”, the writer of the article… I think that it’s quite ironic that you condemn Perez for the style of commentary on his site after writing the following about Jessica Alba in a recent posting on this very site:
“I read that actress Jessica Alba gave in and decided to whore out her little brown baby for the Almighty Dollar after all”
Are you kidding me?
Why do you have free rain to pass judgment in the way that you choose, but he does not?
Your hypocrisy is embarrassing.
And on a side note… I don’t go to Hilton’s site… I’m neither a fan nor critic of his. I do, however, visit Glosslip EVERY day and heard today for the very first time of this lawsuit (from your site).
K, if you’re going to stick to reporting on celebrity gossip and make commentary so be it, you have every right to… just like Perez does… but don’t condemn the mudslingers when you are so clearly one of them yourself.
Your previous entries are proof positive of this.
By doing so, you weaken the credibility of a site that I really enjoy visiting.
Froose
Comment by Froose — July 17, 2008 @ 12:03 am
When a person decides to shop the rights to photos of their child around to the highest bidder, then yes, I call it whoring out that child for money for the parents. If you don’t agree with me it’s entirely within your rights to do so.
When I post somebody’s personal contact information on this site, then you can compare me to Perez. What I said was a commentary on the judgement of Jessica Alba and her babydaddy, but in no way did I compromise her safety or that of her child by posting her email address (yes, I posted her name, but she’s an actress, I doubt very seriously she has a listed phone number). When someone emails us, they can be certain we won’t jeopardize their safety by putting their personal information on the internets.
One is an observation on character, another is a gross violation of someone’s safety.
Now, if you enjoy coming here for CoS stuff, feel free to read it. If you don’t like what I write, that’s your choice, as it is mine to have my own opinions. But you can’t really compare this site to Perez’s.
And it says right on the top that we’re a celeb site, don’t be surprised to find celeb commentary here.
Comment by k — July 17, 2008 @ 12:28 am
I kinda have to agree with Froose above. I was like “are Glosslip insults somehow better, then?” I think I like this site and not his, though, because he’s very much a self-promoter and running the site more for his being somewhat of a low-level celebrity thanks to it (throwing parties and whatever in Vegas all the time, whoo-pee). Aaand I don’t think he’s very funny. Slobbering Rihanna or Miley Cyrus is kinda amusing, though.
…
That woman was pretty dumb, though. REAL dumb. He’s been exposed for using and abusing people’s privacy before, so what exactly was she thinking? Sucks that she lost her job, but I don’t think she has a case.
Buuuut I don’t think Glosslip would do anything like that
At least I HOPE not. But while I think Perez has nothing better to do with his time than draw squiggles and blog about people he wishes he knew, I feel like for you guys it’s not your whole life, just a hobby. That makes it more fun for me to read, at least. Aand I like and agree with most of your opinions 
Comment by Brooke — July 17, 2008 @ 2:30 am
Well, I do respect your opinion (and at least you aren’t calling me names, a big way to win points!). But while it might seem that I’m trying to insult Jessica Alba, I’m not. I am, however, calling into question her rationale (and the thinking of most celebs who do this) that somehow it is okay to sell photos of their child for money. And not just money for charity, but money for their own bank account.
As much as I rag on Brad and Angelina, at least they give the money away.
I mean, I see it as the life of a child is precious. It shouldn’t be used as a bargaining tool to pad one’s own bank account, or even to set up a college fund (like I’m sure all the celebs do when they set this stuff up, right?). So when I see celebs holding out for the highest bidder for staged photos of their child…I don’t know, it just makes my blood boil. It just feeds into celebrity worship, this notion that celebs are somehow “better” than a normal person, that their baby pics are worth millions. Celebs are people and their babies are just babies, who eat and sleep and poop like any other baby.
To use one’s child to pad one’s bank account is horrible…and yeah, I call it like I see it. I’d say it if it were Joe Average down the street.
And you’re kind of right…we do a lot of work behind the scenes that nobody sees here, but both of us have families and children and lives outside of GL. When I’m not here writing, you can bet I am with my family. I could write ten articles a day, but my family would suffer…and my family comes first. I’m sure Dawn feels the same way.
Maybe that’s another reason why I get so upset…I have teenagers now, and I realize that kids are only little once. Don’t spend time worrying about magazine covers and photo shoots, just enjoy them while they’re little, because they grow up entirely too fast.
Comment by k — July 17, 2008 @ 4:27 am
I now see the point your making K.
It’s completely OK to be a mudslinger if it’s something that is within your moral compass.
Message read, loud and clear.
But you should be careful what you write about celebrity worship. Without celebrity worship you wouldn’t have this very site. Way to follow through on your hypocrisy. Build up an entire section of this site based on celebrity gossip and then tear it down. It’s a classic, cliched Hollywood scenario.
Another comment on your above article. I think it’s disgusting that you chose to reprint even part of that hate filled bigoted letter. It’s funny (in the most sarcastic of ways) that you make the point of saying “I’m not linking to the original, look it up if you don’t believe me” and then actually print the word “F*G” like it’s acceptable. That word is no more acceptable than the N-word to many, many people. I highly doubt you would reprint anything with the N-word in it for fear of the response that would entail.
As I write this, however, I am realizing that the reason you didn’t link to the letter is because you didn’t want your viewership to go to Perez’s site. How sad and how very, very small of you to rely on reprinting something from HIS site for ’shock value’ while condemning him at the same time.
P.S. and I would never try and ‘win points’ with you K. It’s laughable and arrogant that you would think that I or anyone would.
Comment by Froose — July 17, 2008 @ 11:18 am
I’m truly sorry that you feel that way. If you can’t look past the forest to see the trees, then there’s nothing I can do about that. I’m not out to make enemies, I’m not even out to make people live their life by my moral compass. But I am out to make people think…which is more than Perez is after.
You may not believe it, but I’d like to write fun stories. Unfortunately, celebs keep doing stupid things, and people keep coming along and excusing their behavior, which usually unconsciously seeps into their own behavior. And they don’t even realize it. Most celeb bloggers are too busy either kissing butt or being snarky to even think about any deeper aspects to the story.
BTW, I reprinted the letter to show how ugly and small that woman was. No matter how one feels about another’s sexual habits, that sort of thing just shouldn’t be done. And the phrase “winning points”? Yep, just a phrase, that’s all.
But I’m not going to sit here and continually justify my actions to you. You have made up your mind as to what I am, and I’m sorry you feel that way, but it’s obvious I won’t change your mind, so I’m not going to try. But ask yourself this…when was the last time somebody got an honest and heartfelt response from Perez himself at HIS site?
Have a nice day.
Comment by k — July 17, 2008 @ 1:51 pm
If the statement that Jessica Alba is whoring out her baby is heartfelt, then I guess we definitely differ in opinion and heart.
Comment by Froose — July 17, 2008 @ 4:37 pm
I’ve got to admit that I’m with Froose on this one. At least Hilton is an equal-opportunity mudslinger.
Comment by Eva — July 18, 2008 @ 11:24 am
That seniors’ lodge must be worried. If one of their employees feels free to spew that kind of vitriolic, out-of-control hatred toward someone she doesn’t know, how would she treat a gay senior under her care? Would she abuse or neglect him? Are there abuse situations in the past that might come to light one day and cost the owners their livelihood?
Comment by Charlene — August 7, 2008 @ 2:47 pm