# $15 Million Emails The Cost to Peer Into Sarah Palin's Inbox By Sandra Winn | Published 2008-10-20 | Pop Culture Source: Trend Hunter, https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/insanely-priced-government-documents-sarah-palins-15m-emails References: [msnbc.msn](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27228287/) If you're news media or simply a curious Sarah Palin fan, it would cost you into the millions to catch a glimpse of the governor's digital post. Sarah Palin’s office is charging as high as $15 million for duplicate copies of email sent from Palin’s office. Such overwhelming charges are the same for the general public and news organizations alike. Are you as curious as I am as to how Palin’s office came up with such a skyrocketed figure? MSNBC breaks it down: *When the Associated Press asked for all state e-mails sent to the governor’s husband, Todd Palin, her office said it would take up to six hours of a programmer’s time to assemble the e-mail of just a single state employee, then another two hours for “security” checks, and finally five hours to search the e-mail for whatever word or topic the requestor is seeking. At $73.87 an hour, that’s $960.31 for a single e-mail account. And there are 16,000 full-time state employees. The cost quoted to the AP: $15,364,960* Whew, with a $15 million price tag on Sarah Palin’s emails, you’d think they were adorned with [Swarovski](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/air-max-plus-moonlight) crystals or something. Even if you can afford the luxury of buying Sarah Palin’s multi-million dollar emails, including those from her [Yahoo](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/email-management)! account, none will be available until after the election on November 4. ## Trend Insights (Trend Hunter) - Score: 1.2/10 - Popularity: 26% | Activity: 2% | Freshness: 8% - Audience gender: 50% men, 50% women - Primary generations: Millennial, Gen X - Top markets: North America, Europe ## Categories [Trend Hunter](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends) > [Pop Culture](https://www.trendhunter.com/popculture) > [Political](https://www.trendhunter.com/political) ## Key Themes ### Key Themes Behind This Trend - **$15 Million Emails:** The exorbitant cost of obtaining Sarah Palin's emails presents an opportunity for disruptive innovation in data retrieval and information transparency. - **Digital Post Charges:** The high fees associated with accessing public officials' emails highlight the need for disruptive innovation in government transparency and accountability. - **Security Checks:** The extensive time and expense required for security checks on emails demonstrate a potential for disruptive innovation in efficient and cost-effective data security solutions. ### Where This Applies - **News Media:** The access fees for Sarah Palin's emails create an opportunity for disruptive innovation in media business models and investigative journalism techniques. - **Data Management:** The challenges posed by the large volume of emails in Sarah Palin's case present an opportunity for disruptive innovation in data management and search technologies. - **Government Transparency:** The high costs associated with accessing government emails indicate a need for disruptive innovation in government transparency initiatives and technology solutions. ## Related on Trend Hunter - [Workplace Chat-Optimizing Apps](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/superhuman-teams.md) - [Luxe Gold-Plated Smartphones](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/goldplated-iphone-15-pro.md) - [Affordable Email Hosting](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/mango-mail.md) - [Email Workload Insights](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/inbox-report.md) - [Cost-Saving Newsletter Subscriptions](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/sesnap.md) - [Space Tourism Capsules](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/space-perspective-1.md) - [Extravagant New Year's Meals](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/empire-steak-house-nyc.md) - [Haute Fashion House Headphones](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/herms-ateliers-horizons.md) - [Secure Email Services](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/duck-email.md)