  We study the optical conductivity sigma(Omega) of an electron system near a
quantum-critical point with finite-wavelength ordering. sigma(Omega) vanishes
in clean Galilean-invariant systems, unless electrons are coupled to dynamical
collective modes, which dissipate the current. This coupling introduces a
nonuniversal energy scale. Depending on the parameters of each specific system,
a variety of responses arise near criticality: scaling peaks at a temperature-
and doping-dependent frequency, peaks at a fixed frequency, or no peaks to be
associated with criticality. Therefore the lack of scaling in the far-infrared
conductivity in cuprates does not necessarily call for new concepts of quantum
criticality.
