In general, I feel that the official factions, when they use their rights responsibly, are necessary. The role of an official faction is to drive that group's roleplay - to set the diplomacy and move things along. While yeah, I can sympathize with the indie player's perspective, the point of FR2 and FR5 is to keep the roleplay of those wearing a particular ID within certain parameters matching the direction the official faction would take.
Let's take the BAF for example. Say, hypothetically, the group is a real thing and you're actually a pilot. A "reservist", if I recall the term the BAF used. While there is a certain amount of autonomy while on patrol, you're also given certain orders from your superiors. They tell you not to shoot Mollys, you better comply or start packing your bags.
Now, while this is indeed a game and we're all here to have fun, the role and responsibility of an official faction is to set those ground orders, be it BAF, Molly, Zoner, Corsair, LN, Samura, what-have-you. These guys and gals are the experts on their RP in most cases. There's still plenty of leeway within the bounds set by a faction, but mind you, your actions do indeed have just as much of an effect on a faction's roleplay, even if you're not sitting in the High Command chat on Skype and directly giving orders. These blokes are the ones setting the example, though, and the group's players are obligated to stay within a certain range of this.
The issue isn't so much giving official factions too much control, it's more that some of the factions we have do not use these rights in their intended manner, which is when the admins step in and give us a swift kick in the rear to set things back on track. Sometimes it just takes longer than we'd like. In the cases where these rights are being misused, that's when it's a player's responsibility to speak up regarding the misuse. If mistakes aren't pointed out, then we don't have the opportunity to correct them.
TL;DR: In my opinion faction rights are good, factions are not always perfect, just as factions are there to direct users, the same goes vice-versa. Indies generally have more of an effect than they think they do.
