“A handful of U.S. senators are asking two federal agencies to investigate Verizon’s use of so-called supercookies that track cellphone users’ habits.  In letters to the Federal Trade and Federal Communications commissions today, the lawmakers said the company’s use of supercookies warrants a thorough examination by both agencies. Among the lawmakers is U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), the top Democrat on the Senate’s Commerce Committee.  “This whole supercookie business raises the specter of corporations being able to peek into the habits of Americans without their knowledge or consent,” said Nelson.  “That’s why I think we need to get to the bottom of this and perhaps new legislation.”  The lawmakers’ request come on the heels of published reports that an online advertising company used Verizon’s supercookies to track the Internet activity of millions of Verizon customers, even if they had taken steps to delete their cookies.   The reports last week prompted Nelson and other lawmakers, including Edward Markey, of Massachusetts, Richard Blumenthal, of Connecticut and Brian Schatz, of Hawaii, to seek an explanation from the communications industry giant.  The lawmakers asked Verizon whether it intends to keep using supercookies, and what steps it plans to take to protect consumers’ privacy. The company has said it’s working on a fix that would let consumers opt-out of such targeted advertising.  Nelson said he would rather see consumers have to opt-in.   The use of supercookies has come under intense scrutiny recently from privacy advocates who feared third parties could exploit them to track consumers.  In addition to the questions put to Verizon and the call for federal agencies to investigate, Nelson says he is looking at whether legislation is needed to regulate the use of supercookies.  Following is the text of today’s letters to the FCC and FTC…”