Over 10% of Python packages on PyPI are distributed without a license

Imagine that you installed a random Python package from PyPI. There’s a good 13.5% chance that the package has no licensing information. Considering it’s not uncommon to have hundreds of dependencies and sub-dependencies in a typical Python application, there’s a very good chance of using unlicensed code. Depending on the context, the consequences of using unlicensed software could be anywhere from insignificant to disastrous. Ok, that’s a wild range, so this post will dig deeper into this issue.