meaning of dumpster diving
1. dumpster diving /dump-ster di:-ving/ 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&Ts monopoly days, before paper shredders became common office equipment, phone phreaks see phreaking used to organise 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 favourite 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 hackers den. Experienced dumpster-divers not infrequently accumulate basements full of moldering but still potentially useful cruft. [Jargon File] Dungeon Zork dup killer /d[y]oop killr/ Software that is supposed to detect and delete duplicates of a message that may have reached the FidoNet system via different routes. See also dup loop. [Jargon File]
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