Drone-Based Businesses: Growing In Canada, Grounded In the US

An anonymous reader writes: As small drones become more affordable and clever people have ideas on how to use them, we've been hearing about more and more ideas for drone-based business. In the U.S., the Federal Aviation Administration was quick to shut down such ideas in order to give them time to regulate the nascent industry. Not so, in Canada. Thanks to a simple permit system, anyone wanting to use a drone for commercial purposes can do so in Canada by simply applying and waiting a few weeks. Around 1,500 of these permits have been granted already, and Canada's private drone industry is flourishing as a result. Drones have been used for agriculture analysis, TV production, real estate photography, law enforcement, and many other tasks.