This short book presents survey results about the moral and ethical attitudes of young people, between the ages of ten and 25 years, toward Internet behavior. The narrative is organized around five cases: a webcam viewing of a college roommate having sex with a same-sex partner and two other examples of digital behavior, Facebook tagging of a college athlete at a forbidden party before a game, submitting for course credit a paper based on a Wikipedia article that the student had himself written, scamming a naive player of a multiplayer game, and sharing photos and videos of a group of high school students sexually assaulting a heavily intoxicated female.

The first of these cases sets the stage. The themes illustrated by the other cases are, in the order above, privacy, property, participation, and correcting the blind spots. The thrust of the book is what participants were thinking, or not thinking, about. Three thinking types seem important: self-focused thinking (what will happen to me?), moral thinking (being aware of the effect on another person), and ethical thinking (implications for the larger community).

Another thrust of the book is how to reduce the blind spots young people have to moral and ethical concerns. One reason moral/ethical issues are important in dealing with digital matters is the strong social pressure to be digitally connected that each young person feels. Young people deal with privacy issues in three ways: establishing norms of behavior, as when a group of eight tweens agree on what can be accessed; behaving as if “privacy is in your own hands”; and acting as if privacy is impossible on the web.

Young people seem to be uncertain about property rights on the web. They do recognize that authors or musicians suffer when their work is copied, but most young people would copy if they thought they would not be penalized. Self-focused thinking dominates thinking about property rights.

The chapter on participation includes more than cheating others in games; it considers disagreeable dialogue and offensive posts, actions that affect all participating. One mindset is “play nice,” reflecting a moral sensitivity. Another mindset is a regard for the online community, reflecting an ethical sensitivity. About half of the teens and young adults, though, expressed a dismissive “it’s just the Internet” attitude about behavior that diminishes the online experience for others.

Narrowing the ethics gap may be accomplished through developing ethical thinking skills, cultivating ethical sensitivity, cultivating motivation to act, and enacting socially positive online deeds. The author has created an educational tool kit, aimed at students from kindergarten to high school, promoting the actions that narrow the ethics gap. In several places in the book, the role of adults is discussed; generally, adults do not seem to be an effective positive force.

The research reported appears to be sound and thorough. The writing is clear, scholarly, and accessible. The book is probably of most immediate interest to people teaching, or developing programs that teach, middle or high school students, but it is of general interest to anyone concerned with the future of our society.

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