I think there's an error in this:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ibsys/20030415/lo_wews/1578341

My understanding (which is not, of course, a lawyer's, but I have worked in a bookstore) is that it is illegal to sell stripped books, but donations may be another matter. Also, as far as I know, anything in the trash bin is fair game so long as you don't, say, steal someone's identity and use it fraudulently. That's why police are not required to serve warrants for things in people's trash cans. The International Book Project gives away books that have had parts of their covers cut off--I have several that were given away to college students years ago. Now, if you ever see those same books at a thrift store or used book store and they're being sold, that's illegal. But as far as I know "destroyed" generally means stripped and tossed in the trash, as opposed to burnt, shredded, or otherwise unusable. I may be wrong, but I do think it's a shame someone didn't get them before they went into a landfill.