tocuh: protect ones' self against ones' self

[Dan Jacobson]

touch Info page says:
      If changing both the access and modification times to the current
   time, `touch' can change the timestamps for files that the user running
   it does not own but has write permission for.  Otherwise, the user must
   own the files.

Please reword. "Otherwise"=not both access and modification, not
current time, ...??? many unclear possibilities!

Anyway, I want driven home that one cannot protect ones' self from
touch:

$ chmod 444 file
$ touch file
will indeed act like the file was 666.

Mention how one can protect ones' self against ones' self.