(Telecompaper) The US President Barack Obama has given his backing to tougher net neutrality rules, including extending the FCC's ability to regulate internet access. After a court struck down its previous Open Internet rules, the FCC started a consultation earlier this year on new measures. The consultation attracted nearly 4 million comments from the public, and Congress has held its own hearings on how ISPs view the issue. Obama has now given his backing to the FCC's proposals to stop ISPs from blocking any site, application or other legal content over their networks or 'throttle' the bandwidth needed for internet users to access any online services. The President also supports the FCC's most controversial proposal, to extend so-called Title II regulation to internet access services. This would see internet service designated a utility, the same as telephony services, allowing the FCC to impose stricter regulations. The lack of such authority was one of the main reasons the FCC's previous Open Internet rules were struck down in court. Obama's support comes as a compromise, as while the FCC could use Title II, it would not be allowed to impose any price regulations or "other provisions less relevant to broadband services".