It's tough to say whether or not the lawsuits filed by movie studios and record labels against a small number of users have proven effective as a deterrent to piracy, but the added embarrassment of exposing sexual fantasies to friends, family and colleagues might make the method more effective for owners of adult content.
The producers have targeted users who downloaded titles that prominently feature transsexuals and "barely legal" 18-year old girls. Since the lawsuits are on public record, the defendants' porn-viewing habits would be exposed.
Pink Visual President Allison Vivas told the AFP, "When it comes to private sexual fantasies and fetishes, going public is probably not worth the risk that these torrent and peer-to-peer users are taking."
The initial barrage of lawsuits began a few weeks ago, and the producers are also targeting YouTube-like streaming video sites (YouPorn and XTube come to mind) that deal in owned content and only remove it after receiving a take-down notice.
There's a certain irony to the situation. Many of these producers built their careers by distributing their goods through web-based channels that challenged traditional distribution models. Now those technologies have developed to the point that the average user can simply acquire the goods for free.