Just in time for Christmas, the U.S. government is getting serious about drone regulation.

Following months of dangerous encounters between drones and large aircraft, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DoT) announced on Monday it will require all drones to be registered in attempt to hold those who break the law accountable. The regulations are aimed to be put in place before Christmas, when thousands of new drones will join an increasingly-crowded airspace.

To develop the regulations, U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced the creation of a task force comprised of representatives from the U.S. government and the drone industry. The task force will give recommendations on regulations by Nov. 20.

The rules will likely to apply to larger drones capable of flying at the same heights of large aircraft; not the sort of cheap toys one can buy on Amazon, for instance, for under $50. In addition to exploring registration for individual pilots, the task force will explore ways commercial drones can be registered.

The problem of regulating drones has been particularly vexing for the FAA; while drones are obviously aircraft, their relatively small size and big numbers mean they can't be regulated in the same way as larger aircraft. This has lead to some rather alarming, often-deadly consequences.

Secretary Foxx said that he is urging the task force to act quickly.

Irresponsible drone operators have attempted to drop drugs and pornography into prisons, nearly collided with hundreds of large aircraft and directly interfered with firefighting aircraft in California. In these cases, it's almost impossible to hold operators accountable because drones could either fly away, and if they are confiscated, the operator would be difficult to track down.

An administrator with the FAA estimates around one million drones will be sold this holiday season, so the motivation for establishing regulation — or at the very least, accountability for irresponsible operators — is significant.

The question that remains is: Will this be enough? Registration is undoubtedly a step in the right direction, but it might not prevent irresponsible operators from flying unregistered aircraft in a dangerous way; after all, it's not as easy as a cop pulling over an unregistered car. The DoT, however, knows this only the first step towards creating safer airspace, according to Secretary Foxx.

Many in the tech industry have called for, "geofencing," which would create a virtual fence around areas where drones shouldn't fly. For geofencing to work, all drones would need to be connected to some sort of automated central network that could prevent them from flying in dangerous areas. While this seems like the most thorough solution, that technology is still a few years away.

The DoT is taking a step in a safer direction, but for now, it's just a step.