"Do they really even CARE about these trivial
little things?" Or, do those rules exist in case somebody -is- trying to
run an illegitimate black market air transport service?

They act like they care, if you ask them. I do support their stance
against an illigetimate black market air transport service. However,
taking your friend home from college (everyone knows you love to fly)
isn't such an animal, though the FAA has made noises as if it were. By
extension, taking your son TO college is equally a black market air
tranport service (especially if you take his friend), and it gets
sillier after that.

I would say that the problem arises from "impersonating an air transport
service", and this is easily solved if the rules state something along
the lines of "A private pilot may carry passengers. A pilot who is
excercising the privilages of a private pilot may not represent himself
or the operation as a commercial pilot, implicitly or explicitly.
Explicitly representing the operation as a private pilot is sufficient
to meet this rule. A private pilot may share expenses with passengers.
Shared expenses need not be pro-rata, but in no case may a pilot
receive more reimbursement or compensation than his actual expenses.
Logging of flight time shall not be considered compensation, neither
shall goodwill.

Jose
--
"Never trust anything that can think for itself, if you can't see where
it keeps its brain." (chapter 10 of book 3 - Harry Potter).
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.