I have version 1.31.049. I was playing the campaign and the dread lords were attacking my trade fleet so I decided to build a Galactic Privateer facility. It got built so i re-created my trade freighter fleet. Once they initiated a trade route they would be immune from attack - EXCELLENT! So it worked, but it worked too well. Not only did it protect my freighters, but it protected pretty much everything else. The dread lord AI was busted. Dread lord ships kept moving into freighters as if to attack them (but they couldn't), so every turn when an established freighter would move (that the dread lords were onto) the dread lords would follow the freighter as if being towed around. This distracted the dread lords and allowed an easy victory by my financially and technologically backed allies (I had 0 military vessels but my score was ridiculous). The dread lords (or any other civilization) should know when freighters are protected and ignore those ones (after reasonable method of finding out whatever way makes the most sense).