#!/usr/bin/env python3 """Content-free input monitor for the cat keyboard corpus. Watches the laptop's keyboard, the Dell hotkeys and the trackpad through evdev (read-only, never grabbed, so normal typing and pointing are unaffected) and records **timing and non-content events only**. It is built so it *cannot* write what was typed: - Character keys (letters, digits, punctuation, Space, Tab, Backspace) are logged as a keystroke with the key identity set to null. You get the time and the fact that a key moved, never which one. - Non-character keys carry no content, so their name is kept: the modifiers, the arrows, the navigation cluster, the function keys, Esc, Caps/Num/Scroll Lock, Enter, and the Dell/media hotkeys. The allowlist is ALLOW below; a code not in it is logged as null, so a mistake fails safe (drops identity) rather than leaking it. - The trackpad gives touch down/lift, button presses, and per-gesture movement summarised as a contact count and a bounding box (a paw covers a large box and many contacts; a fingertip a small one). No absolute position of anything typed, because nothing typed is read here. Three content levels (--content): timing - every key event is {t, ev, dev, key: null}: pure rhythm, no identity at all, even for non-char keys. nonchar - (default) non-char keys keep their name; character keys are null. Trackpad as above. (there is deliberately no level that records character identities.) Output: one JSONL per UTC day under ~/data/input_events/ (PRIVATE, under ~/data, never committed; the public corpus messages.jsonl is promoted from it by hand). Nothing is uploaded. Needs read access to /dev/input/event* (group `input`): either run under sudo, or the owner adds the account once with `sudo usermod -aG input tempest` and re-logs-in. Devices are matched by NAME, never by event number. venv/bin/python investigations/cat_keyboard_corpus/input_monitor.py # nonchar, ~/data/input_events/ venv/bin/python investigations/cat_keyboard_corpus/input_monitor.py --content timing """ import argparse import json import os import selectors import sys import time try: import evdev from evdev import ecodes except ImportError: sys.exit("python-evdev is not installed. In the data_logger venv: uv pip install evdev") # Devices to watch, by name substring (never by event index). WANT = ("AT Translated Set 2 keyboard", "Dell WMI hotkeys", "AlpsPS/2 ALPS GlidePoint") # Non-character keys: content-free, so their identity is kept. Everything else -> logged as null. def _codes(*names): out = set() for n in names: c = getattr(ecodes, n, None) if isinstance(c, int): out.add(c) return out ALLOW = _codes( "KEY_LEFTSHIFT", "KEY_RIGHTSHIFT", "KEY_LEFTCTRL", "KEY_RIGHTCTRL", "KEY_LEFTALT", "KEY_RIGHTALT", "KEY_LEFTMETA", "KEY_RIGHTMETA", "KEY_UP", "KEY_DOWN", "KEY_LEFT", "KEY_RIGHT", "KEY_HOME", "KEY_END", "KEY_PAGEUP", "KEY_PAGEDOWN", "KEY_INSERT", "KEY_ESC", "KEY_CAPSLOCK", "KEY_NUMLOCK", "KEY_SCROLLLOCK", "KEY_ENTER", "KEY_KPENTER", "KEY_SYSRQ", "KEY_PAUSE", "KEY_MENU", "KEY_COMPOSE", *[f"KEY_F{i}" for i in range(1, 25)], # media / Dell hotkeys (content-free) "KEY_MUTE", "KEY_VOLUMEUP", "KEY_VOLUMEDOWN", "KEY_BRIGHTNESSUP", "KEY_BRIGHTNESSDOWN", "KEY_PLAYPAUSE", "KEY_NEXTSONG", "KEY_PREVIOUSSONG", "KEY_STOPCD", "KEY_WLAN", "KEY_RFKILL", "KEY_SWITCHVIDEOMODE", "KEY_KBDILLUMTOGGLE", "KEY_TOUCHPAD_TOGGLE", "KEY_TOUCHPAD_ON", "KEY_TOUCHPAD_OFF", ) EV_VAL = {0: "up", 1: "down", 2: "repeat"} def open_devices(): devs = [] for path in evdev.list_devices(): try: d = evdev.InputDevice(path) except OSError: continue if any(w in d.name for w in WANT): devs.append(d) return devs class Pad: """Collapses trackpad motion into gesture summaries so no continuous stream is written.""" def __init__(self): self.touching = False self.slots = 0 self.xmin = self.ymin = 10 ** 9 self.xmax = self.ymax = -10 ** 9 self.moves = 0 self.t0 = None def reset(self): self.slots = 0 self.xmin = self.ymin = 10 ** 9 self.xmax = self.ymax = -10 ** 9 self.moves = 0 self.t0 = None def feed(self, e, emit): if e.type == ecodes.EV_KEY and e.code in (ecodes.BTN_LEFT, ecodes.BTN_RIGHT, ecodes.BTN_MIDDLE): emit({"dev": "pad", "ev": "btn_%s" % {ecodes.BTN_LEFT: "left", ecodes.BTN_RIGHT: "right", ecodes.BTN_MIDDLE: "mid"}[e.code] + ("_down" if e.value else "_up")}) return if e.type == ecodes.EV_KEY and e.code == ecodes.BTN_TOUCH: if e.value: self.touching = True self.reset() self.t0 = time.time() elif self.touching: self.touching = False emit({"dev": "pad", "ev": "gesture", "dur_ms": round((time.time() - (self.t0 or time.time())) * 1000), "contacts": self.slots + 1, "moves": self.moves, "box": [max(0, self.xmax - self.xmin), max(0, self.ymax - self.ymin)] if self.moves else [0, 0]}) return if e.type == ecodes.EV_ABS: if e.code == ecodes.ABS_MT_SLOT: self.slots = max(self.slots, e.value) elif e.code in (ecodes.ABS_MT_POSITION_X, ecodes.ABS_X): self.xmin = min(self.xmin, e.value); self.xmax = max(self.xmax, e.value); self.moves += 1 elif e.code in (ecodes.ABS_MT_POSITION_Y, ecodes.ABS_Y): self.ymin = min(self.ymin, e.value); self.ymax = max(self.ymax, e.value) def main(): ap = argparse.ArgumentParser(description=__doc__.split("\n\n")[0]) ap.add_argument("--content", choices=("timing", "nonchar"), default="nonchar") ap.add_argument("-o", "--out", default=os.path.expanduser("~/data/input_events")) a = ap.parse_args() os.makedirs(a.out, exist_ok=True) devs = open_devices() if not devs: sys.exit("no target input devices found (need group `input`: run under sudo or add the account to it)") sys.stderr.write("watching: " + ", ".join(repr(d.name) for d in devs) + "\n") sel = selectors.DefaultSelector() for d in devs: sel.register(d, selectors.EVENT_READ) pad = Pad() fh = {"day": None, "f": None} def emit(rec): now = time.time() day = time.strftime("%Y-%m-%d", time.gmtime(now)) if day != fh["day"]: if fh["f"]: fh["f"].close() fh["f"] = open(os.path.join(a.out, day + ".jsonl"), "a") fh["day"] = day rec = {"t": round(now, 3), **rec} fh["f"].write(json.dumps(rec) + "\n") fh["f"].flush() try: while True: for key, _ in sel.select(): for e in key.fileobj.read(): if e.type == ecodes.EV_KEY and e.code < ecodes.BTN_MISC: # a keyboard key name = ecodes.KEY.get(e.code) keep = a.content == "nonchar" and e.code in ALLOW emit({"dev": "kbd", "ev": EV_VAL.get(e.value, str(e.value)), "key": (name if keep else None)}) else: pad.feed(e, emit) except KeyboardInterrupt: pass finally: if fh["f"]: fh["f"].close() if __name__ == "__main__": main()