Craig Newmark, founder of the SF-based Craigslist.com, tells the PPC he doesn’t know what a Seattle Post-Intelligencer columnist is talking about when he claims Craigslist in Seattle has done a “lockdown” on adult advertising in that city. Newmark was responding to an item the PPC posted yesterday that linked to a column written by Robert L. Jamieson Jr. of the Seattle PI. Jamieson says he’s concerned about the ads he believes are being posted by prostitutes on Craigslist in Seattle.

When Newmark saw the PPC item, he posted this comment: “What lockdown?”

The PPC replied: “Craig, that’s the term Jamieson uses in his column: ‘Now comes the lockdown from within. Following the arrests and local media focus on the Craigslist sex ads — including my recent column — a popular review board that links to racy Craigslist ads is now barring public browsing by unregistered users. The board had 10,000 users before the lockdown. …’ Would you describe it differently?”

Newmark’s response: “I’ve heard rumors of a review board, but haven’t taken action, and we don’t bar public browsing of the ads. Any review board has nothing to do with us. I have no idea what the guy’s talking about. Also, we do vigorously work with cops at local, state, and Federal levels to get rid of bad guys, though everyone tells us to focus on scammers and harassment first. We don’t have a lot of that, proportionately, since we have a really good culture of trust. What “media focus”? I’ve seen several articles, out of hundreds. Does that make any sense?”