1. An integrated circuit device having a nonvolatile programmable memory, comprising: nonvolatile memory; memory control and programming logic coupled to the nonvolatile memory and adapted for writing data to the nonvolatile memory, wherein said memory control and programming logic ( 104 ) is operable to determine whether a write protection function is to be performed from signals supplied to at least one input connection; at least one multifunction input connection coupled to the memory control and programming logic, wherein the at least one multifunction input connection is used to distinguish between a permanent and a temporary write protection of the data written to the nonvolatile memory; wherein the permanent write protection is enabled when a voltage on the at least one multifunction input connection is less than a first voltage value, and the temporary write protection is enabled when the voltage on the at least one multifunction input connection is greater than a second voltage value, the second voltage value being greater than the first voltage value; and wherein the write protection cannot be enabled when the voltage on the at least one multifunction input connection is equal to or greater than the first voltage value and less than or equal to the second voltage value.