It's true that psychological case histories are published, but much more carefully. You need to make a formal proposal to an independent review board, which will assess your proposed anonymization protocol and the circumstances of data collection and disclosure. The bar is particularly high if you're asking to release a case study where you don't have documentation of the subject's consent (even for anonymized case studies).

> It's true that psychological case histories are published, but much more carefully.

Yes, that's increasingly true as time passes. Freud's case histories were marked with the subject's real initials, and this practice continued up to the 1950s. I'm not excusing, just explaining.

Even in modern times, very detailed case histories are published as long as there's no credible risk of associating the study with a particular individual, or consent is obtained from someone able to give informed consent.

While I agree with the subject of the response, I disagree with your interpretation of FERPA. Any student who was in that class would have a clear, unambiguous knowledge of the student's identity, and mere 'xxx'ing of the name is a cursory, even illusory attempt at maintaining privacy.

Yes, true but from the standpoint of the public, the professor's action was well-advised. A claim of libel would require that the student's identity become public knowledge, something the obfuscation prevented.

I'm speaking about the general issue of a potential libel action and invasion of privacy, not specifically about FERPA.