Pets inhabit a similar legal space between Citizens and Indentured Servants, as Serfs. They have less rights than citizens, but more rights then Indentured Servants.
Compared to Serfs however, Pets are seen in a neutral way, and more like animal pets, like cats, dogs or fish, and have no negative connotations. This is even in the knowledge that Pets have sold themselves to someone else, usually a wealthy individual. However, the reasons for selling themselves as a Pet is usually for sexual or fetish reasons, rather than financial reasons.
As such, even if legally in the same footing as Serfs, they are viewed neutrally by society.
Some of the rights that Serfs have lost:
- Right to bodily autonomy, their cortical stack can be removed and places into a different sheath by the owner.
- Right to personal property
- Right to free association
- Right to free speech
In some cases the sheathes a Pet is meant to inhabit has hard coded limits and other modifications, as they, theoretically, retain their right to an unmodified mind state. However, many Pets are very open and willing to have their minds modified over time through training and as such those mental modifications are seem as legal by many, even The State.