Idiots
Is this really such a difficult concept for the majority of the commenters here to understand? As a web publisher, you have COMPLETE AND TOTAL CONTROL over your own website (unless you've been hacked). The fact that you CHOOSE to use an advertising engine which does not give you advance notice of which advertisement will be shown in a specific location at a specific time does not change that. You still have COMPLETE control over your own web site.
There's a simple solution -- if you don't like the rule, stop displaying adverts (or at least stop using the ad engines in question). "Waaah! But my advertising revenue! Waaaaah!" Cry me a river. There is nothing that says you can do whatever you want with impunity, and there is no god- or government-given right to host a web page. If you find that you cannot host a web page without violating any laws, then again, there's a simple solution -- don't host the web page. It really is just that simple.
As for "Whose interest are they protecting", are you actually suggesting there should be different laws for commercial entities and non-commercial entities?
Most (all?) advertising engines do not give you advance notice of what ad will be served when. But that doesn't mean that's the way it needs to be, nor does it indicate that that's the way it should be. There was once a time when all computer data was unencrypted, too, but we've moved away from that.
Oh, and as for "Pretending the web is a newspaper doesn't make it so. A newspaper *does* get to see and choose and place an ad, a web publisher does not.", THEY'RE EXACTLY THE SAME THING!! Just because you, as a web publisher, CHOOSE to not view each advertisement that is displayed on your website (and a newspaper does choose to view each advertisement that is displayed in its pages) doesn't change that fact. It's people like you that are trying to twist the system because you find operating within the confines of the law uncomfortable or inconvenient.