"There's just so much more potential when searching a cell phone or an e-mail archive, to uncover information that has no relevance to the object of the search, but yet could reveal many private and personal matters, " Silverstein says.

NPR: Text Privacy Issue Heats Up at Colorado School

Crowdsourcing, unhitched from human or editorial intervention, becomes the search engine-based object of our affections, and it's no surprise that Google takes more than a few hits from Lanier's pen.

ENGADGET: Book Review: You Are Not a Gadget Alt

Some, dedicated to a solitary search for the elusive perfect wave, object on philosophical grounds.

ECONOMIST: On the beach

When you search for certain keywords like durian, campsite, moth balls, grandpa's hat or maple syrup, a description of that object's odor and a big blue "Smell" button appear alongside the search results.

CNN: Heather Kelly,

Critics said the prospect of a no-hands T-Ray search raised general privacy concerns and fears over so-called false positives where an object on a person's body could be misread to be a weapon.

WSJ: Police Test New Scanner