The eight mobile-phone companies that were asked collectively for data 1.3m times last year revealed that information by choice, in response to a letter from a congressman who was prompted to inquire by an article in the New York Times.

ECONOMIST: Government surveillance

He also personally addressed an inquiry by e-mail from Nancy Keenan, the president of a pro-choice foundation who was writing in response to a controversy over Siri directing abortion questions to pro-life clinics.

CNN: Mark Milian,

Respondents could say yes to more than one choice, but deficits and debt got the biggest response.

FORBES: Voters Fear Bankruptcy Of U.S. Government, Pols Don't Care

The promise of stronger sales and profits will make it hard to resist tinkering with a book in response to such signals, adding a few choice words here, trimming a chapter there, maybe giving a key character a quick makeover.

WSJ: Nicholas Carr on E-Books

We'd argue that if you're calling a product "Monitor" that you might aim for a truly flat response, but then, we're not about to discourage giving consumers choice, either.

ENGADGET: blogger-avatar

Aventis' Lantus, the first real, once-a-day, long-acting version of the hormone, will in all likelihood be the first choice of many doctors for treating patients, because it avoids the multiple injections and unsteady response involved in earlier versions of the drug.

FORBES: Magazine Article

But a positive and proactive public response to our upcoming retirement crisis would also acknowledge that many who retire do so not by choice but by circumstance, and understand that to rely on the kindness of employers and the good health fairies to keep elderly Americans fiscally solvent is folly indeed.

FORBES: Can We Really Delay Retirement?

The latter success seems to be a response to two years of pressure from the coalition of 37 Beijing-based nonprofits, the Green Choice Alliance.

FORBES: How Green Are Your Gadgets?