facepalm... You're not wrong, so I'm going to help you out a bit, ok?

That article is also almost three years out of date, so your belief was indeed correct three years ago. It was a time of whimsy when Mitt Romney still existed on the news and Gangnam style was everywhere (Eh, other than in politics 2012 was pretty boring). The Lifeline program has actually improved and fixed many of these issues and is now considered quite successful by both sides of the isle. (Would you look at that? A government program can actually make strides to change! If only everyone worked as fast as these people did). A national database was developed in 2014 called NLAD that began tightly regulating users and house holds. I will point out that this was exactly what conservatives and liberals called for during the time this article was written. So, it happened. The program changed and it is still changing. It's even improving this year, as it is receiving another overhaul to help the poor receive better access to the internet (Here's an article on The Hill about that. It's opinion, so focus more on the information about the program than the snarkiness of the author). It still helps people in need, but now makes sure that there are not multiple phones in a single household and is much more stringent on how flexible the program can be to applicants (which was a major issue when it came to light in 2012).

Now, everyone else has updated their views. Just because you read an article three years ago doesn't make it even the least bit relevant today. You gotta stay on the ball with this stuff. Time moves forward and in the past couple of years there have been countless improvements to government programs such as Lifeline. Public knowledge "echo chambers" are dangerous for everyone. the only way to fix it is to stay informed with up to date information. The "Lifeline is corrupt and poorly managed" argument is a really REALLY dead horse. It is more of an example of how bloated programs can pick themselves up and improve to offer better, more reliable service! i think that's pretty cool and they should be recognized for it.