...are all excellent starting points. Reading all three of these links will definitely help you to create 'Libre' (free as in speech, not beer) software.
I'll tell you something else that increases productivity: the unix toolset. Grep. Awk. Sed. Vi. FTP. CVS. Diff. Perl. Etc. (well, i've never used the etc command, but I hear it's pretty useful:^)=
I'm lucky enough to be able to use Linux at work, and all of these programs have helped to make me a more efficient programmer. The one thing that I would *love* is a step-through debugger for the PHP code that I'm writing. But unfortunately there is no such tool at this time.
Like it or not, you don't have to have a mouse to increase your productivity.
It is/was/will be the potato release. Always has been, always will be. However it was dedicated to the memory of Joel Espy Klecker. Very different thing.
www.cdbaby.com has a bunch of cool CD's (with audio sampls) that appear to be put out directly by the artists. I haven't bought anything from them yet, but check out their policies, and you'll see that there are definitely artists without labels on their site.
If you're trying to boycott the RIAA you should definitely check them out.
Ack!/me was a dumbass. I'm been so used to visiting K5, it didn't even occur to me that kuro5hin is down, and that's why we're having this discussion;^)=
Anyway... If you send some email to rusty, he might be able to dig out some archived stories with comments about moderation. Or check the scoop site for maybe some more info.
It goes deeper than that. Somebody has got it in their head that they want to slam k5. No matter if it's hosted on/., or out of rusty's house, or out of rusty's work, or on www.microsoft.com, the spammers still have the goal of slamming k5, and all the bandwidth in the world won't help.
Rather than bogging down the network with remote X apps, *please* investigate Debian's apt-get tool. In some ways, the Debian distribution is a 10,000+ distributed cluster of homogenous systems.
For my home Debian box, all I have to do is run apt-get update; apt-get upgrade once a day, and then my system is homogenous with the official Debian distribution.
If you put those two commands into your user's init scripts (probably with the --force option), then lock down the/etc/apt/sources.list, then...
Your system is just as secure as any other unix system.
You have a central point of software management (your local "debian mirror"), which you control completely.
You can guarantee that anytime a user turns on a computer, it will be sync'ed with the master server. (or put it in a cron job if your expect computers to be left on. apt will happily run in the background, and update most things without intervention)
Debian has been doing this for years under much weirder conditions, and dammit, it just works.
The biggest disadvantage of using apt-get is that your network will probably get bogged down after you change a large package. The next morning, at 8am, when 1000 people turn on their computers, they'll all be trying to download the same package at the same time, which could be a mini nightmare. If you're a good sysadmin, you'll figure out a good way around it.
The other big advantages:
You can have different ~groups~ of systems-set your sources to ftp://workstations.packages.myplace.org/, then ftp://development.packages.myplace.org/
Debian software is guaranteed not to get you into licensing trouble. Pretty much every package in Debian meets the Debian Free Software Guidelines, which is what the Open Source Definition is based on.
Debian has an overwhelming support infrastructure. Nothing much commercial, but every package has a maintainer (who you can contact), and debian has a central bugtracking system, used to keep track of what bugs are found in which packages, and eventually send those patches back to the original package authors.
If you don't need to roll out this installation tomorrow, I'd recommend that you install a copy of Debian (Debian 2.1 is stable, but out of date, Debian 2.2 is not quite released yet).
Once you install Debian 2.1, hang out for a while talking to people on the irc channels (irc.debian.org), and get all your stuff configured, then run the command apt-get update; apt-get dist-upgrade, and your distribution will automatically be upgraded from 2.1 to 2.2 (hopefully with almost no user intervention).
This message turned out to be a lot longer than I expected, but there's a lot to consider in your situation. Good luck!
--Robert
Where is this week's issue of Debian Weekly News?
on
Ask 'Ian' From Debian
·
· Score: 1
I agree completely. It would be nice if the media recognized the difference between "hacking", "cracking", and "phreaking".
When somebody gets past passwords, imho, that's cracking. If there's programming involved, no matter if it's for good or evil, that's hacking. And phreaking would be a nice term to use for generic network attacks.
I know that everybody has so many opinions on this topic that it's pretty silly to even try and agree on a set of definitions. But as "computer crimes" become more common, people will see the need for a set of consistent definitons to distinguish a "hacked" (generic) website, a "cracked" (insecure) website, or a "phreaked" (network) website.
If you've read the links, it's pretty clear what he wants to do- he wants to provide a way for really smart people to get a really good education, without having to cater to the bottom 98%.:^)=
And the way that Mr. Greenspun works (from what I've seen), he encourages people to be more open, more giving, and more trusting.
He has put something significant out on the line here (if not money, then his own time), and I'm sure that those 30 lucky people who are accepted into this non-accredited educational program will learn a huge amount of very relevant material.
It is a great idea, I'll just leave it at that.
--Robert
Re:BOTTOM 10 pickup lines at Calculusgirls.com
on
80 Proof Quickies
·
· Score: 1
Nice shoes, wanna fibonacci?
Let me prove to you that I'm non-homogeneous.
You're the definition of an integral, the area under your curves is so finite.
Lets go derive my Maclaurin series.
Nice asymptote.
...but I've always found women to be like pi, e, and the square root of 2, so it doesn't really matter.;^)=
I've heard some stuff about XML docbook formats, and would be interested in hearing what you have to say about that, but more importantly, I feel that there isn't really a good tool out there to allow distributed, collaborative, open-source style documentation.
I've heard CVS is the greatest thing since sliced bread when you have multiple people working on the same codebase. Documentation doesn't have any sort of "killer app" that makes it easy for people to contribute.
Would you describe an ideal (probably web-based) tool which some open source hackers could start working on to help improve the state of documentation?
I saw it here in Dallas, at the local Cinemark/IMAX. I really wanted to see it at The Science Place (like a science museum, it also has an IMAX).
Speaking with a friend who had seen it at both places, he preferred the Cinemark. The Science Place has one of those "omni-dome" screens, which really distorted the picture, as well as clipping the lower left and right corners. When I heard about that, I was frustrated because IMHO, The Science Place's IMAX is neater and has more stuff to do afterwards.
Anyway, F2K was really good, except for the bits with the human actors (Steve Martin??? give me a break!)
If you're going to go see it, try to make sure the theatre screen is a plain flat non-cool IMAX screen and you'll be able to see the action a lot better.
kuro5hin.org (corrosion) lets readers moderate the submission queue. It's really neat to see it in action for the first time, (log in as a user, then go to "moderate submissions).
As a matter of fact, the website owner hasn't been in town for half the week, and good stories are still making it to the front page. Truly a very interesting website.
--Robert
More comments on this...
on
LonelyNet
·
· Score: 1
This was posted a day or two ago at kuro5hin.org (corrosion). To see some other insightful comments on this topic (and the ability to moderate your own story submissions) take a look at it.
If I had moderator points, I'd moderate this up several times. This is exactly the right strategy (to barter geek-skills for lawyer-skills), the only difficulty I see is actually working near lawyers. From the way it's portrayed in media/slasdhot, I'd be afraid to sneeze in a law office because of the liability issues, and if you somehow misconfigure their webserver you're screwed;^)=
As a techie, I'd -so- be willing to do tech support, installs, web apps, etc... for lawyers (in return for their support of free software).
Perhaps this could be managed through the EFF? If you want to help out lawyers, sign up with the EFF to leave your skillset and zipcode. Whenever a law office needs help doing something, spam people that are nearby. If it's interesting and you've got a free hour on the weekend, go in and consult for free. The effect would (hopefully) be immediate and powerful.
A relationship like this can only help both sides (just so long as you get the contracts, waivers, disclaimers, etc... correct before touching anything;^)=
John Katz, you are a master of stating the obvious in a way that manages to offend people.
Yes, it is wonderful that Ford is giving away computers to it's employees. But that doesn't require some fruity "industry analyst" who styles himself as the next John Dvorak to tell me that it's wonderful.
I'm sure you think your opinions are -so important- that they must be shared, that it's your duty to share them. I'm also sure you think that a good percentage of the population just wouldn't be able to cope with all the exciting developments such as this without you holding their hand and telling them what you think.
Your hellmouth stories were great, not because of your writing, but because of the writings of others. Almost everthing else you've written should be marked (-1 redundant), in my opinion.
Um... such as... what? I have no idea of anything I've ever "needed" to do in QuickTime that the client ever kept me from doing.
A quick example of something that Apple's player has prevented me from doing (running on NT) has been double-sized playback. It's just plain annoying that I can't resize a 2x2 inch video, and am forced to lean forward and squint at the moving pixels to figure out what's going on.
YMMV, but I'd much prefer my clients to support arbitrary resizing as well as full-screen playback. Something I've found lacking when viewing web-embedded QT video clips.
I have to admit that I'm a big fan of debian, but... yah, cnet does have points. Debian does presume that you know some unix, and it doesn't come with any non-digital accessories.
Their review giving it a 6 is totally on the mark. The fact that Corel (ie- debian) got so highly rated makes me smile on the inside. Corel has addressed a lot of their concerns- easy install, reliable tech support, and printed materials.
One thing which cnet doesn't seem to be taking into account yet is maintainability. Give them 3 months to a year, and then you'll see the well-designed and well-planned distro's start to take the lead in reviews.
If the customers are unhappy, they are free to move to another ISP
I agree with you about being able to change ISP's, but the key difference that's making cablemodem affordable is that the wire is already in place. With telephone dialup, changing ISP's is a great option, because there are so many of them. But as I understand it, there's only one set of cable that's been trenched into the ground.
So, effectively, there is *only one* cable service provider, and that's the little wire that comes out of your wall. No matter how many companies you have, no matter how many ISP's there are, you will always be dealing with shared bandwidth issues using cable modem.
From what I've heard in the US, the government aided cable companies in laying all the wire for cable. Very similar to "giving" air-frequency to TV stations. I could be very wrong about this, but it's what I've heard.
Right now, the three high speed access choices are cable, xdsl, and isdn. As long as these remain comparable in price and availability, I'd say- sure, charge what you want, word your usage agreements accordingly. But if you're making money off of a government monopoly, and there is no alternative to the service you're providing (ie, no alternative to the U.S. mail, no alternative to which wall outlet you plug your cable modem into) then consumers need to have some sort of government approved safeguards.
Just my $0.02
Robert (rames@utdallas.edu)
Disagree (some) about Arrow Keys
on
Interface Zen
·
· Score: 1
I have to disagree somewhat regarding the removal of arrow keys from the "modern keyboard"
The arrow keys give a wonderful point of control when the user is unsure of the machine's current context. A good example is switching desktops under windowmaker... CTL-ALT-Left, CTL-ALT-Right... not a "nice" combination by any stretch, but it always works, and doesn't depend on what software is running at the moment.
Simply because those keys (along with escape, page up, etc.) don't have any other possible meanings, it makes them useful for those context free moments.
A "unix keyboard" just feels different. A lot of times teh control and alt keys will be in different locations, the slash "\" is moved to a different place, a lot of times the INS-HOME-DEL block is moved to a different place (and possibly the layout has changed). Even the function keys normally fall in a 2-wide block to the left.
All from memory, and I haven't used much unix keyboards before. Contrast with the "windows keyboard" picture posted not long ago... a small bar with only the CTL-ALT-DEL buttons.;^)=
(Note: I haven't read the article(s), just responding to this post)
Just to clarify- the complete texts of the fourth and fifth amendments to the U.S. Constitution follow. I take issue with your statement:
What do you mean? If the cops have my data and my encryption key, they don't have to ask me anything, the 5th just never comes up.
Your very use of the word "my" throws this directly into the mix of fifth amendment rights and protections (IMHO). The fifth amendment says: "nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself".
If *MY* personal, private, not for archival purposes data were used against me (ie- you gank my private diary for a criminal case), that is in my mind a very serious breach of privacy.
Maybe I think a little differently than some, but when the lawyer says: "yet, in your own words, you said on your journal entry on 8/20/1999 that you enjoyed hearing the screams of your murder victims as your friend Paul watched on"... how is that not being compelled to testify against oneself? As horrible an example as this is, unless the person has the opportunity to say: "yes, you can read my private diary with private thoughts," or "no, you can't", then it's a very serious breach of privacy and trust. Now if you talk to Paul and he testifies against you, that's not necessarily a bad thing.
The other issue I would have with "remote keyboard sniffers" is that it doesn't adequately describe the "place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized".
Imagine law enforcement saying: "I'd like a search warrant for the internet, because it's being used to commit crimes" and being able to sniff the packets of everybody! This would follow probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, but would be contra to the idea of "secure in persons, houses, papers, effects", as well as "particularly describing the place to be searched and persons or things to be seized."
The problem with a remote keyboard sniffer is that it doesn't have fine enough grain of control- IIRC it is illegal for law enforcement to tap a phone call which is simply a private conversation, even if they have the lines all hooked up, etc... A keyboard sniffer that triggered off of keywords might be acceptable, but using sniffed passwords to violate privacy is just plain not good, IMHO.
Just my $0.02
--Robert (rames@utdallas.edu)
Fourth Amendment: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated; and no Warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Fifth Amendment: No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Slashdot Mirror
Not quite, go watch Enemy of the State, and then start looking around for video cameras, and strange vans. ;^)=
--Robert
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/licen se-list.html
...and...
http://www.debian.org/intro/free
http://www.debian.org/social_contr act#guidelines
...are all excellent starting points. Reading all three of these links will definitely help you to create 'Libre' (free as in speech, not beer) software.
Good luck.
--Robert (ramses0@yahoo.com)
I'll tell you something else that increases productivity: the unix toolset. Grep. Awk. Sed. Vi. FTP. CVS. Diff. Perl. Etc. (well, i've never used the etc command, but I hear it's pretty useful :^)=
I'm lucky enough to be able to use Linux at work, and all of these programs have helped to make me a more efficient programmer. The one thing that I would *love* is a step-through debugger for the PHP code that I'm writing. But unfortunately there is no such tool at this time.
Like it or not, you don't have to have a mouse to increase your productivity.
--Robert
It is/was/will be the potato release. Always has been, always will be. However it was dedicated to the memory of Joel Espy Klecker. Very different thing.
--Robert
www.cdbaby.com has a bunch of cool CD's (with audio sampls) that appear to be put out directly by the artists. I haven't bought anything from them yet, but check out their policies, and you'll see that there are definitely artists without labels on their site.
If you're trying to boycott the RIAA you should definitely check them out.
--Robert
Ack! /me was a dumbass. I'm been so used to visiting K5, it didn't even occur to me that kuro5hin is down, and that's why we're having this discussion ;^)=
Anyway... If you send some email to rusty, he might be able to dig out some archived stories with comments about moderation. Or check the scoop site for maybe some more info.
--Robert
It goes deeper than that. Somebody has got it in their head that they want to slam k5. No matter if it's hosted on /., or out of rusty's house, or out of rusty's work, or on www.microsoft.com, the spammers still have the goal of slamming k5, and all the bandwidth in the world won't help.
Do a quick search for 'moderation' on Kuro5hin, and see several discussions about what users want from moderation.
K5 is a young site, and it's only been recently that it has had to deal with these questions.
--Robert
Rather than bogging down the network with remote X apps, *please* investigate Debian's apt-get tool. In some ways, the Debian distribution is a 10,000+ distributed cluster of homogenous systems.
For my home Debian box, all I have to do is run apt-get update; apt-get upgrade once a day, and then my system is homogenous with the official Debian distribution.
If you put those two commands into your user's init scripts (probably with the --force option), then lock down the /etc/apt/sources.list, then...
The biggest disadvantage of using apt-get is that your network will probably get bogged down after you change a large package. The next morning, at 8am, when 1000 people turn on their computers, they'll all be trying to download the same package at the same time, which could be a mini nightmare. If you're a good sysadmin, you'll figure out a good way around it.
The other big advantages:
If you don't need to roll out this installation tomorrow, I'd recommend that you install a copy of Debian (Debian 2.1 is stable, but out of date, Debian 2.2 is not quite released yet).
Once you install Debian 2.1, hang out for a while talking to people on the irc channels (irc.debian.org), and get all your stuff configured, then run the command apt-get update; apt-get dist-upgrade, and your distribution will automatically be upgraded from 2.1 to 2.2 (hopefully with almost no user intervention).
This message turned out to be a lot longer than I expected, but there's a lot to consider in your situation. Good luck!
--Robert
Where is this week's issue of Debian Weekly News?
;^)=
That's what I'm most curious about
--Robert
I agree completely. It would be nice if the media recognized the difference between "hacking", "cracking", and "phreaking".
When somebody gets past passwords, imho, that's cracking. If there's programming involved, no matter if it's for good or evil, that's hacking. And phreaking would be a nice term to use for generic network attacks.
I know that everybody has so many opinions on this topic that it's pretty silly to even try and agree on a set of definitions. But as "computer crimes" become more common, people will see the need for a set of consistent definitons to distinguish a "hacked" (generic) website, a "cracked" (insecure) website, or a "phreaked" (network) website.
--Robert
If you've read the links, it's pretty clear what he wants to do- he wants to provide a way for really smart people to get a really good education, without having to cater to the bottom 98%. :^)=
And the way that Mr. Greenspun works (from what I've seen), he encourages people to be more open, more giving, and more trusting.
He has put something significant out on the line here (if not money, then his own time), and I'm sure that those 30 lucky people who are accepted into this non-accredited educational program will learn a huge amount of very relevant material.
It is a great idea, I'll just leave it at that.
--Robert
...but I've always found women to be like pi, e, and the square root of 2, so it doesn't really matter. ;^)=
--Robert
Related question:
I've heard some stuff about XML docbook formats, and would be interested in hearing what you have to say about that, but more importantly, I feel that there isn't really a good tool out there to allow distributed, collaborative, open-source style documentation.
I've heard CVS is the greatest thing since sliced bread when you have multiple people working on the same codebase. Documentation doesn't have any sort of "killer app" that makes it easy for people to contribute.
Would you describe an ideal (probably web-based) tool which some open source hackers could start working on to help improve the state of documentation?
--Robert
(sorry for rambling)
I saw it here in Dallas, at the local Cinemark/IMAX. I really wanted to see it at The Science Place (like a science museum, it also has an IMAX).
Speaking with a friend who had seen it at both places, he preferred the Cinemark. The Science Place has one of those "omni-dome" screens, which really distorted the picture, as well as clipping the lower left and right corners. When I heard about that, I was frustrated because IMHO, The Science Place's IMAX is neater and has more stuff to do afterwards.
Anyway, F2K was really good, except for the bits with the human actors (Steve Martin??? give me a break!)
If you're going to go see it, try to make sure the theatre screen is a plain flat non-cool IMAX screen and you'll be able to see the action a lot better.
--Robert
Take a look at http://www.kuro5hin.org - Moderate the submission queue
kuro5hin.org (corrosion) lets readers moderate the submission queue. It's really neat to see it in action for the first time, (log in as a user, then go to "moderate submissions).
As a matter of fact, the website owner hasn't been in town for half the week, and good stories are still making it to the front page. Truly a very interesting website.
--Robert
This was posted a day or two ago at kuro5hin.org (corrosion). To see some other insightful comments on this topic (and the ability to moderate your own story submissions) take a look at it.
http://www.kuro5h in.org/?op=displaystory&sid=2000/2/16/95028/4003
--Robert
If I had moderator points, I'd moderate this up several times. This is exactly the right strategy (to barter geek-skills for lawyer-skills), the only difficulty I see is actually working near lawyers. From the way it's portrayed in media/slasdhot, I'd be afraid to sneeze in a law office because of the liability issues, and if you somehow misconfigure their webserver you're screwed ;^)=
;^)=
As a techie, I'd -so- be willing to do tech support, installs, web apps, etc... for lawyers (in return for their support of free software).
Perhaps this could be managed through the EFF? If you want to help out lawyers, sign up with the EFF to leave your skillset and zipcode. Whenever a law office needs help doing something, spam people that are nearby. If it's interesting and you've got a free hour on the weekend, go in and consult for free. The effect would (hopefully) be immediate and powerful.
A relationship like this can only help both sides (just so long as you get the contracts, waivers, disclaimers, etc... correct before touching anything
--Robert
John Katz, you are a master of stating the obvious in a way that manages to offend people.
Yes, it is wonderful that Ford is giving away computers to it's employees. But that doesn't require some fruity "industry analyst" who styles himself as the next John Dvorak to tell me that it's wonderful.
I'm sure you think your opinions are -so important- that they must be shared, that it's your duty to share them. I'm also sure you think that a good percentage of the population just wouldn't be able to cope with all the exciting developments such as this without you holding their hand and telling them what you think.
Your hellmouth stories were great, not because of your writing, but because of the writings of others. Almost everthing else you've written should be marked (-1 redundant), in my opinion.
--Robert
Um... such as... what? I have no idea of anything I've ever "needed" to do in QuickTime that the client ever kept me from doing.
A quick example of something that Apple's player has prevented me from doing (running on NT) has been double-sized playback. It's just plain annoying that I can't resize a 2x2 inch video, and am forced to lean forward and squint at the moving pixels to figure out what's going on.
YMMV, but I'd much prefer my clients to support arbitrary resizing as well as full-screen playback. Something I've found lacking when viewing web-embedded QT video clips.
--Robert
Agreed-
I have to admit that I'm a big fan of debian, but... yah, cnet does have points. Debian does presume that you know some unix, and it doesn't come with any non-digital accessories.
Their review giving it a 6 is totally on the mark. The fact that Corel (ie- debian) got so highly rated makes me smile on the inside. Corel has addressed a lot of their concerns- easy install, reliable tech support, and printed materials.
One thing which cnet doesn't seem to be taking into account yet is maintainability. Give them 3 months to a year, and then you'll see the well-designed and well-planned distro's start to take the lead in reviews.
--Robert (rames@utdallas.edu)
If the customers are unhappy, they are free to move to another ISP
I agree with you about being able to change ISP's, but the key difference that's making cablemodem affordable is that the wire is already in place. With telephone dialup, changing ISP's is a great option, because there are so many of them. But as I understand it, there's only one set of cable that's been trenched into the ground.
So, effectively, there is *only one* cable service provider, and that's the little wire that comes out of your wall. No matter how many companies you have, no matter how many ISP's there are, you will always be dealing with shared bandwidth issues using cable modem.
From what I've heard in the US, the government aided cable companies in laying all the wire for cable. Very similar to "giving" air-frequency to TV stations. I could be very wrong about this, but it's what I've heard.
Right now, the three high speed access choices are cable, xdsl, and isdn. As long as these remain comparable in price and availability, I'd say- sure, charge what you want, word your usage agreements accordingly. But if you're making money off of a government monopoly, and there is no alternative to the service you're providing (ie, no alternative to the U.S. mail, no alternative to which wall outlet you plug your cable modem into) then consumers need to have some sort of government approved safeguards.
Just my $0.02
Robert (rames@utdallas.edu)
I have to disagree somewhat regarding the removal of arrow keys from the "modern keyboard"
... CTL-ALT-Left, CTL-ALT-Right ... not a "nice" combination by any stretch, but it always works, and doesn't depend on what software is running at the moment.
The arrow keys give a wonderful point of control when the user is unsure of the machine's current context. A good example is switching desktops under windowmaker
Simply because those keys (along with escape, page up, etc.) don't have any other possible meanings, it makes them useful for those context free moments.
A "unix keyboard" just feels different. A lot of times teh control and alt keys will be in different locations, the slash "\" is moved to a different place, a lot of times the INS-HOME-DEL block is moved to a different place (and possibly the layout has changed). Even the function keys normally fall in a 2-wide block to the left.
;^)=
All from memory, and I haven't used much unix keyboards before. Contrast with the "windows keyboard" picture posted not long ago... a small bar with only the CTL-ALT-DEL buttons.
--Robert (rames@utdallas.edu)
Just to clarify- the complete texts of the fourth and fifth amendments to the U.S. Constitution follow. I take issue with your statement:
Your very use of the word "my" throws this directly into the mix of fifth amendment rights and protections (IMHO). The fifth amendment says: "nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself".
If *MY* personal, private, not for archival purposes data were used against me (ie- you gank my private diary for a criminal case), that is in my mind a very serious breach of privacy.
Maybe I think a little differently than some, but when the lawyer says: "yet, in your own words, you said on your journal entry on 8/20/1999 that you enjoyed hearing the screams of your murder victims as your friend Paul watched on"... how is that not being compelled to testify against oneself? As horrible an example as this is, unless the person has the opportunity to say: "yes, you can read my private diary with private thoughts," or "no, you can't", then it's a very serious breach of privacy and trust. Now if you talk to Paul and he testifies against you, that's not necessarily a bad thing.
The other issue I would have with "remote keyboard sniffers" is that it doesn't adequately describe the "place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized".
Imagine law enforcement saying: "I'd like a search warrant for the internet, because it's being used to commit crimes" and being able to sniff the packets of everybody! This would follow probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, but would be contra to the idea of "secure in persons, houses, papers, effects", as well as "particularly describing the place to be searched and persons or things to be seized."
The problem with a remote keyboard sniffer is that it doesn't have fine enough grain of control- IIRC it is illegal for law enforcement to tap a phone call which is simply a private conversation, even if they have the lines all hooked up, etc... A keyboard sniffer that triggered off of keywords might be acceptable, but using sniffed passwords to violate privacy is just plain not good, IMHO.
Just my $0.02
--Robert (rames@utdallas.edu)