The MPAA is expected to launch a new offensive today, filing civil suits against the operators of Bit Torrent trackers. After trying fairly toothless DMCA warnings against Bit Torrent users, the MPAA will head to the source and target the trackers themselves.

The effort has been long expected. Fleeing the legal assaults of the entertainment industry the past year, many users of p2p clients like KaZaA have returned to more familiar hauntings: newsgroups and IRC. Others fled to Bit Torrent.

As evident by postings in our forums, many of those users believed the technology offered them a degree of anonymity.

Those assumptions were incorrect; anyone with a Bit Torrent client can see the IP address of every other user connected to the same tracker, allowing the MPAA to send those users DMCA warnings about sharing pirated materials.

Whether coming via Cox or Comcast, the DMCA letters are all generally the same. Both recent examples target torrent film and television episode traders, and both inform users they won't suffer any punishment if they simply delete the offending material.

"We are writing on behalf of Cox Communications to advise you that we have received a notification that you are using your Cox High Speed Internet service to post or transmit material that infringes the copyrights of a complainant's members," a letter politely informs one Cox user.

"Cox will suspend your account and disable your connection to the Internet within 24 hours of your receipt of this email if the offending material is not removed," the letter adds.

However we've yet to see further action taken. This is largely because of a recent legal ruling that prevents the industry from using the DMCA to force ISP's to reveal user identities.

Instead, the MPAA will now focus on the source of the pirated materials, websites like SuprNova that offer links to trackers hosting pirated films, music, software, and television programs.

Knowing they're likely number one on the industry hit-list, Suprnova has been working on less centralized Bit Torrent solutions they hope will make them less vulnerable to legal assaults. How well this will work, and how effective the MPAA will be at shutting down sites like Suprnova via civil suits, remains to be seen.