[freehunter]

That's pretty much the MO of a lot of SV companies. I remember when Uber came to my city and there were news articles about police officers ordering a ride and ticketing the driver afterwards because unlicensed taxis were against the law. The city claims Uber never petitioned them to change the law, Uber just knowingly broke the law and paid the fines on behalf of their drivers until the city changed the law. Airbnb has done similar things in the past in cities where subleasing and short-term rentals are regulated, but they skipped the regulation and just broke the law until the law changed.

Youtube does the same, Facebook does the same. Laws and regulations are seen as things to disrupt rather than rules to follow or petition for changing. And if you have a billion dollars of VC money in your pocket, who cares about a $100 ticket?

[travisoneill1]

If the government changed the law rather than stepping up enforcement, that means that public support was not behind the law. This is essentially civil disobedience, and I say that is a completely legitimate strategy.