Watch out when you are trying to set $GLOBALS to the local variable.
Even without reference operator "&" your variable seems to be referenced to the $GLOBALS
You can test this behaviour using below code
<?php
$_POST['A'] = 'B';
$nonReferencedPostVar = $_POST;
$nonReferencedPostVar['A'] = 'C';
echo 'POST: '.$_POST['A'].', Variable: '.$nonReferencedPostVar['A']."\n\n";
$GLOBALS['A'] = 'B';
$nonReferencedGlobalsVar = $GLOBALS;
$nonReferencedGlobalsVar['A'] = 'C';
echo 'GLOBALS: '.$GLOBALS['A'].', Variable: '.$nonReferencedGlobalsVar['A']."\n\n";