Plenty of individuals have had significant penalty for torrenting, including settlements [1] (search for singapore), and being blocked from accessing the internet [2]. The RIAA also sued a large number of individuals in the US [3]. And that's apart from the large number of companies that have been sued for supporting torrents.

So, yes, people easily could be sued for torrenting and plenty of people have suffered significant penalty.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_issues_with_BitTorrent

[2] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-39961502

[3] https://www.eff.org/wp/riaa-v-people-five-years-later

Yeah, a decade+ ago back when MAFIAA was still experimenting with those tactics.

FWIW almost all the people listed on your wiki page were tracker operators, but I am aware that there have been a few exceptions.

No, there age big exceptions. In Germany there are law firms with hundreds of employees doing nothing else all day.

Those German law firms are not interested in services like put.io

Only takes a few to make an example.