A new California law shields daycare and in-home care providers from being filmed, and independent investigator Nick Shirley is suing to overturn it — a fight over free speech versus privacy.

• Nick Shirley has been traveling the country filming daycare and in-home support centers he says are billing for services that aren't being provided.
• California's AB 2624, signed by Gavin Newsom, makes immigration and in-home care providers a protected class and allows $4,000 civil fines for publishing their information.
• The law is written broadly enough that simply filming a provider could count as inviting harassment, opening the door to lawsuits against anyone who records.
• Critics see it as shielding potential fraud from scrutiny rather than protecting workers.

Outlook: The lawsuit will test whether the law survives a First Amendment challenge, and until then filming care providers in California carries real legal risk.