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.