Fascinating article! The one thing I've learned about pickpockets is not to let people get so close to you so that you are confused by all the "noisy" touches. That's how pickpockets work, either by getting large groups of kids to surround you and they start putting their hands in all your pockets (like what almost happened to me in Rome), or in crowded places like subways or tourist areas (like the Eiffel Tower). I'…
I am traveling a lot to places where pickpocketing is a regular occurrence (many parts of Africa, most of the time, but also South America and some parts of eastern Europe) and never had anything stolen from me. I attribute that to the (perceived?) fact that I am generally watchful and look at people alot. I never put anything valuable at easy to reach pockets and I am very watchful of my personal distance. My theory is that when dealing with professional thieves, you only have to be a harder target than anyone else on the same place. Still, I would expect any decent pickpocket to be able to steal from me - so I never carry anything which I cannot replace easily.
Then again, I never had the opportunity to actually validate that way of thinking.