It isn't mind reading.
As a New Tur'lista, she can only read someone's mind if she touched them. Conversely, someone can touch her and project thoughts to her (which is what Snider is doing, using his tail to touch Nibbi's ankle and project his thoughts to her). Besides, Neko get to send wireless digital messages to each other - I need a way of doing it too or it's just not fair. At a distance, all she can get is a gut feeling of how the person feels, but you can also do that by watching their body motion and judging it for yourself.
If I wanted to actively read people's minds I'd have to have Nibbi grab someone by the head and actively focus on invading their mind - and that'd be cause for alarm unless she was going to kiss them. It's why she wears gloves and keeps most of her skin covered.