 A relevant distinction that has been made in philosophical semantics is that between the referential and the attributive use of descriptive labels of persons (van den Hoven 2008). Personal data is defined in the law as data that can be linked with a natural person. There are two ways in which this link can be made; a referential mode and a non-referential mode. The law is primarily concerned with the ‘referential use’ of descriptions or attributes, the type of use that is made on the basis of a (possible) acquaintance relationship of the speaker with the object of his knowledge. “The murderer of Kennedy must be insane”, uttered while pointing to him in court is an example of a referentially used description. This can be contrasted with descriptions that are used attributively as in “the murderer of Kennedy must be insane, whoever he is”. In this case, the user of the description is not – and may never be – acquainted with the person he is talking about or intends to refer to. If the legal definition of personal data is interpreted referentially, much of the data that could at some point in time be brought to bear on persons would be unprotected; that is, the processing of this data would not be constrained on moral grounds related to privacy or personal sphere of life, since it does not “refer” to persons in a straightforward way and therefore does not constitute “personal data” in a strict sense. 