I agree, it doesn't add anything. It's an act of censorship without cause and doesn't make an enormous amount of RP sense - you'd expect allied factions to have a degree of tech trading going on.
ID based technerf is sensible. Shipnerf is nonesensical.
THE SYNDIC LEAGUES
(A co-operative of Rheinland's outlawed trade unions, determined to take the underworld for themselves.)