Germany's highest court has ruled that random data profiling for terror suspects is legal only when the country faces a specific threat to security or lives.

Germany's Constitutional Court ruled Tuesday that the general threat of terror since September 11, 2001, does not warrant random profiling. Analysts say the ruling could force many German states to revise laws on random searches.

The measure stems from the case of a Moroccan student in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, who challenged scanned data on five million men who were profiled following the 2001 terror attacks on the United States. No terror suspects were found in the data search.

Bavarian Interior Minister Guenther Beckstein criticized today's ruling, saying data profiling is an effective way to combat terrorism.