While the Chinese government and Google continue their public dispute over alleged cyber attacks from earlier this month, hackers over the weekend managed to launch several attacks on the web sites of human rights organizations in China. One such organization, Chinese Human Rights Defenders, was the victim of a sustained sixteen-hour denial of service attack on Saturday. The group claims the Chinese government is most likely to be the one behind the attack.

Earlier this month Google announced it had been victimized by a cyber attack designed to break into its Gmail operations and obtain information about human rights activists. The attack prompted Google to issue a warning to computer users world wide after instructions on how to replicate the attack began appearing on the web. Google also ceased filtering its Chinese search engine contents in retaliation.

Beijing has responded through state-run media outlets, releasing dozens of broadcasts and published reports which claim the U.S. is using internet security issues as a vehicle to encourage anti-China sentiment around the world. Google has been painted as a pawn in America’s “ideology war” while Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been portrayed as a hypocrite. Google continues to operate in China though that is subject to change if the rhetoric continues to heat up.