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dumpster diving /dump'-ster di:'-ving/ n.
1. The practice
of sifting refuse from an office or technical installation to
extract confidential data, especially security-compromising
information (`dumpster' is an Americanism for what is elsewhere
called a `skip'). Back in AT&T's monopoly days, before paper
shredders became common office equipment, phone phreaks (see
phreaking) used to organize regular dumpster runs against
phone company plants and offices. Discarded and damaged copies of
AT&T internal manuals taught them much. The technique is still
rumored to be a favorite of crackers operating against careless
targets. 2. The practice of raiding the dumpsters behind buildings
where producers and/or consumers of high-tech equipment are
located, with the expectation (usually justified) of finding
discarded but still-valuable equipment to be nursed back to health
in some hacker's den. Experienced dumpster-divers not infrequently
accumulate basements full of moldering (but still potentially
useful) cruft.
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