{"id":7584,"date":"2021-08-20T11:34:16","date_gmt":"2021-08-20T11:34:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adf.uk\/?p=7584"},"modified":"2024-01-15T14:20:32","modified_gmt":"2024-01-15T13:20:32","slug":"censorship-by-default","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb\/commentary\/censorship-by-default","title":{"rendered":"Censorship by default &#8211; by Elizabeth Francis writing for The Critic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"sf-article-content__dropcap\">A <\/span>friend of mine was recently interviewed under caution by the police. His offense? Reading the Bible aloud in a calm voice and steady tone outside a railway station. He was left waiting to hear back for one month and then advised in writing to \u201c<i>be careful with what you say in future when reading outside<\/i>\u201d. The police were trying to grapple with whether his reading was \u201c<i>abusive<\/i>\u201d and harassing under the law. The result was chilling.<\/p>\n<p>While nearly all street preacher police cautions and arrests eventually come to nothing, a worrying trend has emerged over the years. The police have seemingly maintained an overly cautious approach to suppressing \u201cpotentially offensive\u201d words in public while they take time to interpret the meaning of the law.<\/p>\n<p>At present, the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/bills.parliament.uk\/bills\/2839\">Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts (\u201cPCSC\u201d) Bill<\/a>, due to be debated in the House of Lords in September, will only compound these issues.<\/p>\n<p>A major theme of Part 3 of the PCSC Bill is the interaction of the police and citizens in relation to public\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/commonslibrary.parliament.uk\/research-briefings\/cbp-9164\/\">demonstrations and protests<\/a>. Triggered by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-england-london-53020306\">highly disruptive protests<\/a>\u00a0that have been organised around the country in recent months and years, often involving some element of criminal damage, clauses in the Bill aim to give police additional powers to more effectively respond.<\/p>\n<p>Continue reading \u201cCensorship by default\u201d by Elizabeth Francis (<a href=\"https:\/\/thecritic.co.uk\/censorship-by-default\/\">The Critic<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A friend of mine was recently interviewed under caution by the police. His offense? Reading the Bible aloud in a calm voice and steady tone outside a railway station. He was left waiting to hear back for one month and then advised in writing to \u201cbe careful with what you say in future when reading [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":23558,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[737],"tags":[898],"class_list":["post-7584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","tag-uk-en-gb"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.3 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Censorship by default - by Elizabeth Francis writing for The Critic - ADF International<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb\/commentary\/censorship-by-default\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Censorship by default - by Elizabeth Francis writing for The Critic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A friend of mine was recently interviewed under caution by the police. His offense? Reading the Bible aloud in a calm voice and steady tone outside a railway station. He was left waiting to hear back for one month and then advised in writing to \u201cbe careful with what you say in future when reading [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb\/commentary\/censorship-by-default\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ADF International\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/adfinternational\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-08-20T11:34:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-15T13:20:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philipp Bues\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@adfintl\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@adfintl\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philipp Bues\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adfinternational.org\\\/en-gb\\\/commentary\\\/censorship-by-default#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adfinternational.org\\\/en-gb\\\/commentary\\\/censorship-by-default\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Philipp Bues\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adfinternational.org\\\/en-gb\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6b776fc8535453c6aad8a6f9d78e6141\"},\"headline\":\"Censorship by default &#8211; by Elizabeth Francis writing for The Critic\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-08-20T11:34:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-15T13:20:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adfinternational.org\\\/en-gb\\\/commentary\\\/censorship-by-default\"},\"wordCount\":234,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adfinternational.org\\\/en-gb\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adfinternational.org\\\/en-gb\\\/commentary\\\/censorship-by-default#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adfinternational.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/Censored-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"UK\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Commentary\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adfinternational.org\\\/en-gb\\\/commentary\\\/censorship-by-default\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adfinternational.org\\\/en-gb\\\/commentary\\\/censorship-by-default\",\"name\":\"Censorship by default - by Elizabeth Francis writing for The Critic - ADF International\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adfinternational.org\\\/en-gb\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adfinternational.org\\\/en-gb\\\/commentary\\\/censorship-by-default#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adfinternational.org\\\/en-gb\\\/commentary\\\/censorship-by-default#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adfinternational.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/Censored-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-08-20T11:34:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-15T13:20:32+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adfinternational.org\\\/en-gb\\\/commentary\\\/censorship-by-default#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/adfinternational.org\\\/en-gb\\\/commentary\\\/censorship-by-default\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adfinternational.org\\\/en-gb\\\/commentary\\\/censorship-by-default#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adfinternational.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/Censored-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adfinternational.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/Censored-1.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":885},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adfinternational.org\\\/en-gb\\\/commentary\\\/censorship-by-default#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adfinternational.org\\\/en-gb\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Censorship by default &#8211; by Elizabeth Francis writing for The Critic\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adfinternational.org\\\/en-gb\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adfinternational.org\\\/en-gb\\\/\",\"name\":\"ADF International\",\"description\":\"Protecting Fundamental Freedoms. Promoting Inherent Dignity.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adfinternational.org\\\/en-gb\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adfinternational.org\\\/en-gb\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adfinternational.org\\\/en-gb\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Alliance Defending Freedom International\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adfinternational.org\\\/en-gb\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adfinternational.org\\\/en-gb\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adfinternational.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/ADF_Intl_R_RGB_175px.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adfinternational.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/ADF_Intl_R_RGB_175px.png\",\"width\":175,\"height\":106,\"caption\":\"Alliance Defending Freedom International\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adfinternational.org\\\/en-gb\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/facebook.com\\\/adfinternational\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/adfintl\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/adfinternational\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/adfinternational\\\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adfinternational.org\\\/en-gb\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6b776fc8535453c6aad8a6f9d78e6141\",\"name\":\"Philipp Bues\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adfinternational.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/Philipp-Bues-Headshot-150x150.jpg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adfinternational.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/Philipp-Bues-Headshot-150x150.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adfinternational.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/Philipp-Bues-Headshot-150x150.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Philipp Bues\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adfinternational.org\\\/en-gb\\\/author\\\/pbuesadfinternational-org\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Censorship by default - by Elizabeth Francis writing for The Critic - ADF International","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb\/commentary\/censorship-by-default","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Censorship by default - by Elizabeth Francis writing for The Critic","og_description":"A friend of mine was recently interviewed under caution by the police. His offense? Reading the Bible aloud in a calm voice and steady tone outside a railway station. He was left waiting to hear back for one month and then advised in writing to \u201cbe careful with what you say in future when reading [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb\/commentary\/censorship-by-default","og_site_name":"ADF International","article_publisher":"https:\/\/facebook.com\/adfinternational","article_published_time":"2021-08-20T11:34:16+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-01-15T13:20:32+00:00","author":"Philipp Bues","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@adfintl","twitter_site":"@adfintl","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Philipp Bues","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb\/commentary\/censorship-by-default#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb\/commentary\/censorship-by-default"},"author":{"name":"Philipp Bues","@id":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb\/#\/schema\/person\/6b776fc8535453c6aad8a6f9d78e6141"},"headline":"Censorship by default &#8211; by Elizabeth Francis writing for The Critic","datePublished":"2021-08-20T11:34:16+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-15T13:20:32+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb\/commentary\/censorship-by-default"},"wordCount":234,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb\/commentary\/censorship-by-default#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Censored-1.jpg","keywords":["UK"],"articleSection":["Commentary"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb\/commentary\/censorship-by-default","url":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb\/commentary\/censorship-by-default","name":"Censorship by default - by Elizabeth Francis writing for The Critic - ADF International","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb\/commentary\/censorship-by-default#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb\/commentary\/censorship-by-default#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Censored-1.jpg","datePublished":"2021-08-20T11:34:16+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-15T13:20:32+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb\/commentary\/censorship-by-default#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb\/commentary\/censorship-by-default"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb\/commentary\/censorship-by-default#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Censored-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Censored-1.jpg","width":1920,"height":885},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb\/commentary\/censorship-by-default#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Censorship by default &#8211; by Elizabeth Francis writing for The Critic"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb\/#website","url":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb\/","name":"ADF International","description":"Protecting Fundamental Freedoms. Promoting Inherent Dignity.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb\/#organization","name":"Alliance Defending Freedom International","url":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ADF_Intl_R_RGB_175px.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ADF_Intl_R_RGB_175px.png","width":175,"height":106,"caption":"Alliance Defending Freedom International"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/facebook.com\/adfinternational","https:\/\/x.com\/adfintl","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/adfinternational","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/adfinternational\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb\/#\/schema\/person\/6b776fc8535453c6aad8a6f9d78e6141","name":"Philipp Bues","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Philipp-Bues-Headshot-150x150.jpg","url":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Philipp-Bues-Headshot-150x150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Philipp-Bues-Headshot-150x150.jpg","caption":"Philipp Bues"},"url":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb\/author\/pbuesadfinternational-org"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}