On Tue, Oct 4, 2011 at 6:26 PM, John Vandenberg jayvdb@gmail.com wrote:
Is this the first time that WMF has actively taken a stance on politics and legislation?
No. Well, in this case, really, Wikimedia hasn't acted except to observe, though several individuals have stated opinions.
But Wikimedia has acted to influence policy--for one, recently we signed on to the EFF's amicus brief in a US Supreme Court copyright case, Golan v. Holder:
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2011-June/066452.html
Beyond that we've taken several positions that support various stances--on "sweat of the brow" copyrightability of scans, for example, or the enforceability of free content licenses. Through that alone we are not politically neutral, and can't be while the ability to do what we're doing depends on favorable law.
-Kat