I don't think you would have gotten many people on board with that civil disobedience idea anyway. Even with no FAA penalty involved, not many people are going to risk the chance that their asset will be worth pennies on the dollar when they try to sell it because they have modified it illegally. What would they intend to do about the pre-buy inspection? I suppose the only people that wouldn't care are those who intend to keep that specific airplane forever.
And how can you possibly compare this to the situation in Egypt?
A few years ago I was involved in Canadian Transport trying to prosecute a US owner for running "C" numbers on a Ilegal Twin Bo.
The whole story was he bought it from a Canadian in his wifes name, brought it to the US and simply made up a set of N numbers, and flew it that way, no annual, no registration, nothing, for a while, Canada thought it was exported, the US never knew it existed, until one day a noisy FAA inspector walked by and smelled auto fuel, knowing the GO-480 is not an engine with an STC for auto fuel, he ran the number, found that the number was not on a Twin Bonaza. and stuck a sticker on it and waited until he shows.
The owner rents a hangar, placed the aircraft in the hangar, The FAA had no clue who owned the aircraft because there was no registration, so they hit a dead end. The owner then stripped the aircraft polished it, and placed C letters on it and started to fly it again.
then 911 occurred, and he flew it during the no fly period and the FAA had a fit, called Transport Canada and got one of there inspectors to come down and have a look, they ran the C letters and found they did not belong to a Twin Bo. and placed a no fly sticker on it.
but then it disappeared from that airport and appeared at BVS, in the mean time some body ratted out the owner and told the FAA who owned the aircraft, so they violated him for flying an unairworthy aircraft, he simply said NO I didn't, prove I did, and they couldn't.
Now the aircraft sets at BVS and hasn't flown since, but the FAA couldn't prove their case, and can't touch him until flys that aircraft again. He has since bought another aircraft that the FAA has no record of either.
I was summoned to testify at hearing against his wife at transport canada in VanCouver Ca. they out come of those proceeding were that she got fined 1450.00 CD for the citation transport Canada filed.
That's all that ever happened in that case.
MY point in all this? the FAA has no teeth in the enforcement issues you only need to stone wall them, they only know what you tell them.
This case is my best bad example of why the seller must remove there registration and send in the 8050-2 form them selves. you never know what the buyer is going to do with the aircraft after they fly away.