who the HECK signed me up on conservativepetitions.com?

[oldlady]

could a virus or spybot or thingamajig do that? I've just gotten an email thanking me for joining (and warning me not to reply to the message because it will be considered spam and unread -- autoreply email sender)---have I been hacked or do I have an evil alter-ego logging on to right wing cause websites in my sleep? can web-based petitions steal and use my email address?

[Nimrod]

1. Answer is yes

It's definitely possible for web petitions to steal your email address (or anyplace else you use it). Viruses, spybots, and thingamajigs can do it too.

It's also a common trick to grab public email addresses and sign them up for mailing lists, either as revenge on a person or just because. That's why I use a hotmail address for everything.