I'm looking on the wiki and it appears that with the removal of the Reapers, the "Edge World" line of ships is intended to be more or less open use.
I am getting a 75% tech nerf under the Freelancer ID. I checked the Mactan network, and the other "independent" offical groups don't appear to suffer a reduction in power.
Outcasts, Corsairs, Hessians, don't have EW tech, Hessians and Outcasts have BW tech. Freelancers having a nerf on EW tech doesn't really make sense to me, as freelancers are from everywhere, but that's how it currently is yes, you have 75% core nerf on EW tech as a freelancer.