People living in Iran, Sudan and Cuba will have access to a wider array of Google products now that the U.S. government has decided to loosen some restrictions, according to this AP article:

Bob Boorstin, Google’s director of policy communications, said the Web search company would now be able to offer some of its other products in those countries, such as the mapping satellite software Google Earth, photo management program Picasa and Internet chat client Google Talk.

“This is a great accomplishment,” Boorstin told a human rights meeting in Geneva. “We are hopeful this will help people like yourselves in this room and activists all over the world take a small step down what is certainly a long road ahead.”

The U.S. Treasury Department said the change to existing trade sanctions was intended to help people “exercise their most basic rights” with the help of instant messaging service and e-mail.