filtering out the bad stuff

We've been following the studies of Jonathan Zittrain and Benjamin Edelman, from the Berkman Center for Internet & Society since July, when they looked at the filtering of web sites taking place in Saudi Arabia. Some recent updates regarding their look at filtering in China have been getting the media's attention, including an article at internetnews.com called China's Filtering Tech Evolving.

ReasonOnline has what I would gauge to be a satirical look at the subject named Filter Tips: What Europe can learn from China's censors:

Translating the protocol into filtering software may be tricky. Ideally, the filter should be sophisticated enough to catch a statement like, "Those French sure are thin-skinned and intolerant." But China has shown that you can make a dent in the problem of dangerous speech even if you can't be 100 percent successful.

Zittrain and Edelman have already demonstrated that some European countries don't need the help.