I was reading the manual for my 07 and learned that it has an EDR. Is there any way to disable this? My Nissan dealer said no, but I don't know how honest they are being.

Thats a scary thought, is this a government imposed piece of equipment? Can I pull the hard drive and replace with one filled with Southpark or something? lol

Likely not. If I'm Nissan I tie it into the Engine Control Unit so that the car won't run without a "healthy" report from the EDR. Since the vehicle belongs to you the data from the recorder does to - at least I've heard that said according to our state law and you can only turn over the data if they ask you.

In the future I see these becoming more and more intrusive - to include a video camera capturing both the inside and outside views.

If you are in an accident they don't need your permission to take the data, if they believe you are at fault then they can get a court order - basically a warrant to take the data as evidance.