America Online Boots Junk E-Mail

America Online said Wednesday that it has blocked some Internet sites that barrage subscribers with “junk” e-mail, after trying unsuccessfully for months to get them to stop the practice voluntarily.

The nation’s biggest on-line service also said it will soon add a new software feature that will allow subscribers to filter unwanted e-mail, which it said was their leading complaint.

AOL said it has taken steps to block five sites that serve as clearing houses for the unsolicited, commercial mailings and have refused to work with the on-line service to address the problem.

“We have gotten no cooperation about any reasonable restriction,” said David Phillips, associate general counsel at AOL. He said the solicitations cover a wide range of products and services, some of them of an adult nature and “inappropriate products for some of our members.”