Keyboard backlit light control from command line
I haven't found a great solution yet. Here is some information that can help:


Apparently there is a solution for Ubuntu on MacBooks. 
Lab Tick runs on OS X but unfortunately not command-line (nor open source).
brightness is free software to control the display brightness.


This turns off automatic backlight in low light:

defaults write com.apple.BezelServices kDim -bool false


This turns off keyboard illumination when computer is not used for 1 second:

defaults write com.apple.BezelServices kDimTime -int 1


But ideally I would just turn off the illumination under all circumstances. And I haven't found a CLI solution for that - yet.