Drones may need license plates soon as US aviation regulators update rules

That small drone you got for Christmas may soon need a license plate of sorts.

U.S. aviation regulators said they intend to require for the first time that drone owners place a government-assigned ID number on the outside of the devices, according to a little-noticed filing earlier this month.

Current rules require drone owners to register with the Federal Aviation Administration and more than 1 million people have done so. They must identify their drones, but the marker can be placed inside battery compartments or other internal areas where it can’t been readily seen.

The FAA’s move