To say Nashville-based advertising company redpepper is generating buzz for conceptualizing Facedeals — an online facial recognition software application that would be accessed through Facebook — is like saying Atlas has some weight to carry. Understated doesn’t even begin to describe the viral spread of what began only weeks ago in a redpepper “lab test.”

Media exposure has been phenomenal and includes a CNN interview earlier this week as well as a myriad of other media outlets linked below. But, like any consumer-focused idea that catches a substantial wave of early public interest, naysayers abound. The most problematic of them are the ones concerned about privacy. For the detractors, it isn't a long journey from snapping pictures of consenting customers stepping over a retailer’s threshold to a much more sinister Big Brother environment. Here’s a sampling of the media’s interest from across the world wherein, among other things, the privacy issue is explored.

• The Globe and Mail
• Australia’s news.com
• MSNBC
• Wired magazine
• The Los Angeles Times