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This sort of thing has become part of the modern economy. If you think about Facebook, Google, Apple, we are not talking small potatoes.
The main rule is that when you choose to make use of the product, any "side effects" should be obvious and clear. Insofar as this type of data monitoring is part of the profit of the product, you don't have a right to demand the same product without the data monitoring. Exceptions to this would be under abuse of market power, e.g. due to unfair competition there are no viable alternative services.
For my Nook Simple Touch I am pretty sure it is a loss-leader for B&N, like the Xbox is for Microsoft. I don't mind a bit of anonymous data monitoring on those products. However I would never join Facebook. Not anonymous enough.
In a way data monitoring is good for me because it enables a product range that I am kind of "parasitic" off of -- I use the cheap services without contributing back much. E.g. my NST has no credit card attached and B&N don't know my actual identity.
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