dumpster diving

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}.