I plugged my LinkedIn into ChatGPT and asked it to score my online exposure from 1 to 10. It gave me an 8. Eight out of 10 would be an OK score if this were Yelp. For privacy, it’s a small house fire.
Now I’m a public person whose career depends on being findable. If your life isn’t public? Your number might make you sick.
AI does something no sane human has time to do. It connects dots. Your hometown from a reunion post. Your kid’s school from a photo. Your gym from a check-in. Your travel schedule from a speaker bio. Your neighborhood from a tagged birthday dinner. Your harmless posting becomes a beautifully labeled trail of breadcrumbs to your front door.
Twenty seconds. Full report card. No hacking required. All a person needs is a chatbot with too much time and zero conscience.
🔍 Run this on yourself
Open ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Grok and paste this:
Act as a privacy and security expert reviewing my public online footprint. Using only what’s publicly visible from my LinkedIn profile [paste URL] and any other easy public sources, audit my exposure. Tell me: 1) My top 5 privacy risks, ranked by severity. 2) The exact post, photo or detail that created each risk. 3) The 3-minute fix for each one with specific menu paths, not vague advice. 4) A 1-10 digital exposure score with a one-sentence explanation. 5) The single thing I should change today before anything else. Be direct. Skip the disclaimers.
That last line is the secret weapon. Without it, AI wraps every answer in so many caveats you want to throw your laptop out a window. AI loves disclaimers the way toddlers love asking why.
🛡️ Fix these first
- Strip location tags from old photos in your camera roll. Every single one. Nothing says “come find me” like a backyard sunset pic with metadata.
- Lock old Facebook posts: Tap Settings > Privacy > Your Activity > Limit Past Posts.
- Remove your employer name from your public bio if your job allows it.
- Hunt down every caption where you named your kid’s school. Yes, all of them.
- Audit your check-ins. Your gym, coffee shop, airport gate. That’s a schedule handed to a stranger.
My 8 out of 10 came down to things I can’t hide. My show is the brand. Public figures trade some privacy for reach. That’s the deal.
Run the prompt. Compare scores at dinner. Whoever scores highest buys dessert. Consider it a digital wake-up call with a side of humble pie. Remember, hackers don’t care if you’re interesting. They simply need you to be findable and a little sloppy.
BTW, if your results include data broker and people-search site listings, my sponsor Incogni makes those disappear. Get 60% off right now. I use it myself. No kickbacks if you sign up.
📩 Send this to someone who still swears they’re “too boring to be hacked.” Use the links below to do it in a snap.