>>Of course, with something like hacking, it's very hard to argue that the accused is also a nonperson, unless they are a digital person. Just being able to hack requires a meat individual to be highly intelligent.<<

Exactly. And I can imagine the ASPCA having a fair bit to say about the "killing them" option.

Plus, being "cute" has value in this situation.

Regarding digital persons, if they used "social engineering"in the hack, they've passed the Turing test (not that it has any *legal* validity, but still...)