<!DOCTYPE svg PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD SVG 1.1//EN"
  "http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/1.1/DTD/svg11.dtd">
<svg width="512" height="512" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" version="1.1">

  <defs>
    <filter id="blur">
      <feGaussianBlur stdDeviation="5"/>
    </filter>
  </defs>

  <!-- White background -->
  <rect x="0" y="0" width="512" height="512" fill="white" stroke="none"/>

  <!-- Left circle, filter applied outside transform -->
  <g filter="url(#blur)">
    <g transform="translate(128 256) scale(1 -1)">
      <circle stroke="black" fill="none" cx="0" cy="0" r="120"/>
    </g>
  </g>

  <!-- Right circle, filter applied inside transform -->
  <g transform="translate(384 256) scale(1 -1)">
    <g filter="url(#blur)">
      <circle stroke="black" fill="none" cx="0" cy="0" r="120"/>
    </g>
  </g>
</svg>


