No such thing as an unemployed attorney? Sure there is: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/30/AR2010103000211.html/

I've had probably 50 people try to register on my message board in the last couple of weeks, mainly from RIPE in Amsterdam and LACNIC in Montevideo. I've considered banning RIPE's IP addresses entirely. The ones that I have approved have been posting your typical porn and Viagra links, I'm not sure if this is exactly the same as I won't follow their liniks to see if it's to blog posts.

I wasn't sure if there'd been a compromise for SMF boards or if there's a list of low-activity boards that spammers share where my site got listed recently and thus people are trying to post there or what, but I've had to turn on administrator-approval of all memberships, which really ticks me off. I'm thinking about reinstalling my board to change the directory but haven't had time to mess with it.

Civil law generally doesn't allow for imprisonment. Laws where violations are considered infractions are called petty violations for a reason -- they're very minor, and tying up the criminal justice system with them would be a waste of resources.

I'm not quite sure what the rest of your argument is. It's a traffic infraction whether there's a cop at your window writing out a citation or a cop at a computer reviewing photos. It's the same alleged violation of traffic law; the major difference is that in one case the evidence is usually based on the observation and memory of the citing officer, and in the other, there's photographic evidence. In both cases, the office involved would have to testify if you insisted that it go to trial. In some states, you can get a jury trial no matter how trivial the offense, though if you lose, you may risk getting hit with court costs.

Get some (low interest) loans. If a degree from a prestigious university is worth that much to you and you didn't get the scholarships - then pay for it.

Or - how about you contact the actual FOSS organizations?

Now get off the lawn I would have had if my parents had the cash to pay for my schooling. Young whippersnappers.