The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) filed lawsuits today against more than 100 BitTorrent tracker servers that direct users to locations of files available for download. The lobbying arm of the Hollywood movie machine wants to kill the technology that lets people with high-speed connections download large files in a fraction of the time it takes using conventional download techniques.

There’s no doubt that acquiring movies is one of the top uses to which people put BitTorrent. The problem is, it’s far from the only use. As a fan of jam-band music, I routinely download concerts from eTree’s BitTorrent listing. In the jam-band community, musicians encourage taping of shows and want the music to spread. There’s no copyright violation involved.

Even more relevant, though, is the potential for BitTorrent as a means of obtaining podcasts. Several podcasters are providing BitTorrent feeds. This alternative to standard downloading, coupled with new applications like BlogTorrent (that removes any need for technical knowledge from the process of obtaining BitTorrents), could provide a further boost to the popularization of podcasts.

But not if the MPAA has its way. Rather than deal with individual copyright violations, the MPAA would rather stifle the technology that makes it possible regardless of the collateral damage it causes.

The entirely legitimate desire to end piracy doesn’t justify killing the technology. Of course, the MPAA denies this goal, describing the operators of the trackers “traffic cops connecting those who wish to steal a movie with those who have a copy of it.” (Wired News) That may not be true, since “people hosting trackers may not be aware of exactly what data flows through it. If the tracker server operator doesn’t know what’s happening inside the box, it may not be possible to hold the operator liable under current law.”

Imagine the publishing industry going after Xerox and Canon to kill off photocopiers because people were copying and distributing copyrighted material. The analogy isn’t far off, and if the MPAA has its way, a promising tool for distributing communication is at risk.