14 DAY TRIAL // Google Earth may finally be coming to people in Cuba, Iran and Sudan after having been blocked, along with any other US software downloads, in those countries as part of a trade embargo for the past couple of years. The US lifted the restrictions earlier this month, but the mapping software still isn't available in those countries, as Google claims it isn't as easy as it seems.
The US had imposed export restrictions on the three countries, and others, because of various international transgressions. The US isn't the only one imposing these kinds of limitations and the idea is that, with external pressure, the governments in these countries would be forced to back down on some of their practices against their own people, neighboring countries, and so on.
However, while the effectiveness of this move may be debatable when it comes to physical goods, when it comes to software, especially one that would improve the transparency in these countries, it's pretty clear that the blocking is misguided.
The US government finally realized this, after numerous voices argued the ridiculousness of the restrictions, and lifted some of them on Internet services and software exports in those countries. With the ban lifted, Google was free to offer Google Earth in Cuba, Iran and Sudan, but the process isn't as straightforward as it would seem and it takes more than just removing the IP and location filters the company employed.
A Google representative had this to say to the Ogle Earth blog, which has been keeping an eye on the issue: "We're working on the changes since the day of the US pronouncement. There is much to do, actually, but we are very excited about it!" At the moment, Google Earth still isn't accessible from the three countries mentioned, but the situation should change soon.