15+ years ago, I was working on my first development job out of college and I noticed that there was a strange process running on my work computer that couldn't

15+ years ago, I was working on my first development job out of college and I noticed that there was a strange process running on my work computer that couldn't be killed. I traced it to a specific port and host and used telnet to connect to it directly (I thought it was malware and got curious). Little did I know that my manager was watching our every move and when I connected to the host/port (sending no data), it crashed their viewers (the software was crap). I was brought in then next day to my manager's office and they told me they saw what I did and asked me to explain. I did and didn't get fired. My coworker got fired that day because the whole purpose was to watch his computer. He was spending the majority of his time on online poker sites and working on his own projects on company time. I also remember my manager casually bringing up topics that I talked about over IM with a friend over my lunch break..which was creepy (this was before I knew he was watching us and never let on the reasons he was bringing up these topics). We were forced to sign a contract the next day that stated that the company has a right to monitor our computers and we were to only be working on company-related work on company computers. I left that company a few months later. One reason being that I hated the idea of someone watching me 24/7. It was a great decision because they cut 25% of the workforce shortly after I left. Almost all of my ex-coworkers were let go or left within a year.