Should we be value-neutral outside the scope of our essential mission?

For example, should we have an official position on the free culture movement? Wikimedia is part of that movement, but I would say this is so because of practical considerations, rather than ideological ones. It was assumed that people would be more willing to contribute to wikipedia if they knew their work could not be seized and owned by someone else, and it was decided that all contributions would be licensed accordingly. We may each of us love the free culture movement, just as we love fluffy little kittens, but this doesn't mean we need an official position on kittens. Likewise, our position on the free culture movement can be limited to the scope of our own activities. Outside of this scope, we should be neutral.

Today Andrew Lih led a skypecast, and someone was complaining that Skype was not free (as in Richard Stallman), so therefore WMF should use a different program for our _casts. Since WMF is not involved in internet telephony, should we as an organization have any preference for one program over the other, except on practical grounds?

The value-neutral issue goes well beyond the issue of free culture. In the political sphere, if the Foundation adopts any particular POV as a matter of policy, we risk fomenting opposition in any country where the government is of a different mind. Since the goal of the Foundation is not outright political activism, we should avoid expressing any political preference outside the immediate scope of our mission. Probably we can come down firmly on the side of free speech, but beyond that we should aim for value-neutrality.

In summary, any time the Foundation adopts a position on any issue, we become subject to certain restrictions and limitations as to who we are, and what we can do. The more positions we adopt, the more narrowly defined we become. To avoid this we should adopt as matter of official policy only those positions that are essential to our mission.