Uber needs to obey the regulatory rules of the industry. Either they don't have a pricing meter (and thus journey price is agreed before hand) or they do have a price meter and all Uber drivers are regulated like any other black cab driver.

They can't ignore laws just because those laws are inconvenient to them.

I completely agree with you, but at the same time, for whatever reason companies (Uber / Airbnb) have been able to completely ignore rules & laws to the tune of tens of billions of dollars (in valuations).

It's almost "might makes right": ignore rules and grow as fast as possible, with the hope that you'll grow faster than the legal system can take you down. By the time the legal system could do anything, you're big enough to change the rules.

But now Chesky is rich, so he gives away money and pretends that he's something other than an enormous fucking asshole.

But that's how you disrupt markets!

The price of a London cab is regulated. Maybe that price is wrong. Uber can take advantage of it, but do you think the London taxi industry is really going to sit back and watch its market disappear without even trying to change price?

And the cab driver protests are more rooted in the fact that they had to spend a very long time learning 'The Knowledge' before being let out on the road, and that Uber has no such requirement. So, either it's necessary and they're letting Uber off the hook, or it isn't necessary and TfL has been lying to drivers.

So, I think it's more complex than just being "threatened by Uber".

Case in point:

https://twitter.com/newyorkcityliz/status/470010209403150336

Edit: Fixed my idiom. Thanks dragonwriter.

http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/case+in+point

Like many other things The Knowledge has been superseded by a computer.