> Krebs went on to cite an official at the Electronic Frontier Foundation who said cellular carriers by law are required to know the approximate location of customers in the event it's needed by emergency 911 services.

IANAL but the RAY BAUM’S act (yes, it's all caps because it's a silly initialism) only applies to location data that goes "with" a particular 911 call. Not your location before the call, nor your location after the call.

So if your cell-carrier is recording your location at all moments and persisting it indefinitely, no law was forcing them to do that, they are choosing to disrespect your privacy for their own profits or laziness.